Best of Enemies
by AzureSpider
Summary: Stranded on a Cerberus-held planet and cut off from Shepard, Jack and Miranda must work together to survive...assuming they don't kill each-other first! Post ME 2 and same universe as my LotSB novelization. Shep is Paragon/Spacer/War Hero. Shep/Miranda
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Miranda's eyes fluttered open from her sleep. As the sight of Shepard's quarters came into focus, she turned around to see Shepard still sleeping silently, and that she had one of her arms draped over him. Smiling, Miranda silently mused over how they could sleep together, a privilege so many couples across the galaxy took for granted. Before the second Normandy's defection from Cerberus, the whole ship was bugged except for the Engine Room, making that the only place where Shepard and Miranda could have moments of intimacy. But since their defection, Shepard and Miranda had removed every single bug on the ship, allowing them to now make love in each-other's quarters.

Miranda turned to the clock to see that it was time for both of them to get up. Gently turning Shepard around, she planted a kiss on his lips as a means of waking him up. When his eyes finally opened, he was greeted with the sight of her pretty face up close, her long dark hair untamed, mussed and unkempt from the previous night of intense love-making. He smiled. Truth be told he thought she was very attractive in her current state, but then again, he always thought that about her.

"Hey"

"Good morning Daniel" Miranda responded pleasantly. "Sleep well?"

"Very. What time is it?"

"Late enough"

"Ah. Probably time to get up then"

"Pity" Miranda replied, to which Shepard grinned. He extended a hand and pulled her face close to his.

"Then again, we _could _maybe go without breakfast"

Miranda chuckled lightly. "Don't be absurd. You wouldn't have the stamina to keep up with me"

"Want to test that theory?"

"If you think you're up for i—"

Shepard cut her off with a fierce and passionate kiss that he only deepened when she moaned in approval.

-X-

"Well I must say, "Commander" Miranda said in a sultry tone. "That was quite a pleasant way to spend a morning"

Shepard grinned in response to that. "See? I told you we could go without breakfast"

"Yes well, unfortunately, business now takes priority. As it is the Normandy received a message that you might be interested in"

Shepard nodded. "I'll take a look at it. In the meantime, have Mordin and Chakwas—"

"They're still running tests" Miranda said matter-of-factly. "Mordin says that the initial results should be ready soon"

Shepard nodded. "Good. Anyway, tell Garrus that Jacob's finished that new weapon he's been working on and that he wants Garrus to help test it"

Miranda nodded. "Understood commander"

She walked off, but as she did, Shepard called out to her: "And Miranda…"

Miranda stopped and turned around. "Yes?"

"Let's use your quarters next time"

Miranda made a very suggestive smirk in response to that.

-X-

Shepard went down to the CIC floor and accessed his private terminal. Indeed, he saw one new message, titled: "Something you might be interested in" Opening it, Shepard saw that it was from none other then David Anderson. Shepard read the message:

_Shepard._

_The rumors go that you're not with Cerberus anymore. I'm relieved if that's true, and I also thought you might be interested in something: _

_Not long after your visit to the Citadel the Council began receiving reports of abductions in the Terminus systems, namely Turian military officials operating out in the area. We thought it was Cerberus, but until recently we couldn't prove it. Now our intelligence networks have located a Cerberus cell on Invictus. It's a world the Turians have been trying to colonize for years. That Cerberus has a cell there just confirms that they're behind the abductions._

_I don't know what Cerberus plans to do to them, but since you're still technically restricted to the Terminus Systems, I figure that you're our best chance at stopping whatever's going on down there._

_Good luck Shepard_

_-Anderson._

Shepard finished reading the message and furrowed his brow in distaste at the news of Cerberus in the middle of yet another morally dubious act. He found himself regretting his decision to leave them less and less.

In any event, Anderson was right. Shepard was probably those Turians best bet of release from whatever hells Cerberus had in store for them. Recalling grimly what the Cerberus cell he had shut down during the hunt for Saren had done to an Alliance admiral just for trying to expose them, Shepard made this his new number one priority.

Going to the Galaxy Map, Shepard set a course for Invictus.

-X-

Shepard had gathered most of his team into the war room to brief them on what exactly was going on. Anderson hadn't exactly given a large amount of information, but Shepard shared what he knew regardless.

"…So the primary goal is to find the prisoners and get them out of there. Taking out the cell is a secondary goal"

Jack scoffed. "Please. I know Cerberus. Those sons of bitches probably killed them all already or worse. I say we just focus on blasting them all straight to hell"

Grunt, the genetically engineered Krogan nodded fiercely in agreement. "I'm with the crazy one. Burst in and crush their soft skulls into the earth. Let them die with _some _honor"

Shepard sighed. He supposed that this was the price to pay for having a Krogan super-soldier and a bloodthirsty Cerberus-hating biotic on his squad.

"No. If there is any chance that the prisoners are still alive, and there _is_" Shepard said that last bit to Jack who just snorted in annoyance. "…then we save them first. _Then _we can worry about shutting the cell down"

Miranda stepped forward: "We don't know much about this cell, or really anything for that matter, but I still recommend that I go with you. My experience with Cerberus cells could—"

Jack cut her off. "Yeah, "experience". My ass. You're just nostalgic for your old child-torturing friends" Jack accused.

Miranda rolled her eyes in response. "Don't be absurd. I'm not with Cerberus anymore. And as I recall, it was you who killed most of those children in the end. So if you don't mind cease your spiteful pettiness for at least a moment while those of us that care focus on the bigger picture"

Jack's biotics flared up at that moment as her fists clenched into balls and her teeth grinded fiercely together. Miranda braced herself for things to get ugly, but as had been the case before, Shepard stepped in-between them.

"Jack, stand down."

"Fuck off" came the predicted response. "I want to tear that bitch's head off! Its been a long time coming!"

"**_No_**." Shepard said forcefully. "_No one _is attacking or hurting any member of my crew. _**No one.**_"

Jack snarled. "Why are you always defending her anyway? She's a Cerberus bitch! You saw what those bastards did to me! You—"

"Yes, I did. But that wasn't Miranda, and she's not even with Cerberus anymore. She is not your enemy…"

"Bullshit"

Shepard continued as if Jack hadn't said anything: "…and so you will _not _try to attack her again. That. Is. An order."

Jack scoffed. "I don't take orders remember?"

"You do on this ship if you don't want to be floating in space"

Jack made a dark smirk in response to Shepard's threat. "Nice to see you have some balls "commander" Jack replied in a tone that made Miranda want to punch her. But she stayed her hand.

"I think you've seen what I'm capable of by now" Shepard said in a tone that was as cold as Miranda had ever seen him.

By now, the others were all witnessing the altercation, silent but clearly not at ease, save Grunt, who looked almost disappointed when it became clear that there would be no fight between the two Biotic ladies.

Jack nodded in response to what Shepard said, shot one last venomous look at Miranda and then stormed off, muttering a litany of curses under her breath. Shepard turned back to face the rest of his team. "I'll deal with her later. For now though, we have a job to do. Miranda, I agree with what you said earlier, so you're on the team. Garrus, you're coming too"

Garrus nodded silently in agreement.

"All right then, we're done here"

And with that, the rest of the crew filed out, Jacob only stopping to do his usual salute. Once only Shepard and Miranda remained, Miranda snarled and angrily hit the wall with a biotic charged fist.

Shepard walked over to her. "Hey, easy, easy. Don't do that"

Miranda turned around to face him, her pretty face taking on an expression of extreme anger that he hadn't seen on her too many times. It was never a good day when it showed up.

"Shepard, Jack is an unstable and psychotic individual who I wouldn't trust if my life depended on it" Miranda said hotly.

Shepard held up a hand. "Miranda, I know you don't like or her, or trust her, but I really would appreciate it if you two could one day work this out. I can't keep coming between you two like this and solving all of your problems for you forever. You need to learn to live with each-other"

Miranda scoffed in contempt. "So long as she does her job well and doesn't try to kill me, I have no problem with her. I can do my job fine without trouble. It's that feral animal you should be concerned about."

"Miranda, that isn't fair and you know it. Jack's been through hell…"

Miranda gave him an ice-cold glare eerily reminiscent of the look she had had when she had shot Wilson dead at the Lazarus Station. "We've _all _been through our own private hells Shepard" Miranda said darkly. "You, me, Jacob, Vakarian, Mordin, all of us. But none of us carry it with us everywhere we go"

"I don't think that's true Miranda." Shepard responded. "I think we've all been carrying a lot of emotional baggage around. Some of its been thrown off recently, but not all. Look, I'm not saying that Jack's justified to act the way she does, or that its not unpleasant to have to listen to because believe me, it is. But she's had it worse then most, and she's also had no positive role-model or moderating influence in her life. She has no way to deal with her problems constructively or even how to cope properly. She's almost child-like like that, mentally at least"

Miranda sighed in exasperation. There were times when she admired Shepard's almost saintly ability to see both sides of the argument and extend at least some sympathy to all parties. Now was not one of those times. What Shepard said had merit, she knew that, but the petty and angry side of her was incredulous that he would sympathize with Jack like he was.

"Look," he said, seeing the anger on her face. "I'm not asking you to become friends with her, or even try to do anything right now. Just think about what I said though, please?"

Miranda sighed deeply but nevertheless nodded in agreement. "Very well Daniel. I will"

He smiled. "That's all I can ask for"

Shepard pulled her close to him and they kiss one another passionately, relief of sensual pleasure consuming them and washing away the stress of the last few moments.

**Author's Note: And that's the first chapter. I think most people can see where this is going. Still, I hope that you all enjoy it all the same.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hey there folks, here's chapter 2! Sorry it took so long, but school and other writing projects combined to hamper my progress. I hope you enjoy all the same.**

Jack sat in a dark corner in her place of residence on the Normandy silently fuming. Anger and rage boiled up inside her far more than was healthy for anybody yet she held it all in anyway. Like a volcano that would erupt at any moment.

In her mind Jack fantasized about just exploding. At unleashing all of her fury into one big biotic explosion that would destroy everything it consumed. Her lips formed a slight smile at the thought. As it stood she only wanted to space the stupid cheerleader, though she wouldn't lose any sleep if anyone else bit it. That was just how it was.

Then again, there was the Quarian chick. She was nice enough, and hated Cerberus _almost _as much as she did. And the cook guy. Sure, he was Cerberus, but he didn't really know what they were. And she got better food from him then she did on Purgatory, or anywhere else she'd ever been in her life, so there was that. Even the image of that annoying but kind of sweet redhead flashed in her mind.

Jack snorted. Feelings again. She had them, but she didn't like to show them, save for rage with a good helping of sadism. But that didn't change the fact that as loathe as she was to admit it, there were _some _people on the ship she kind of liked. Kind of.

Finally, Jack let out a long, deep, sigh, followed by a brief flash of her biotics as she launched out a warp for no other reason than because she was pissed out of her mind. She couldn't take it anymore. Couldn't stand the cheerleader bitch or Shepard's keeping her in line anymore.

_I think its high time I get some new lodgings _Jack mused.

Well, as it stood, she had no way of getting off the Normandy now. She would just have to wait until Shepard came back from his latest mission and then "politely" ask to be dropped off.

_And then where do I go? _A small part of her brain asked her.

_Who gives a fuck? Anyplace away from that damn cheerleader is better than here_

-X-

Shepard, Miranda, and Garrus had all gotten into the Kodiak shuttle, Garrus hauling the new weapon Jacob had designed alongside his Vindicator and his signature Mantis Sniper Rifle. Shepard for his part had opted for the Geth Pulse Rifle instead of the Revenant this time. Miranda, as always, stuck with the Tempest and Carnifex Hand-Cannon.

As the Kodiak entered the atmosphere of Invictus, Shepard, Miranda, and Garrus were struck with the absolutely beautiful sight of a never-ending rainforest that made those left on Earth look like a person's garden in comparison.

"Why couldn't the Cerberus cells we took out before have had bases on planets like this?" Garrus quipped.

If it had been a few weeks ago, that remark would have elicited a decidedly unamused reaction from Miranda but as it stood she said nothing in response. Instead, she kept to the task at hand: "It will be difficult to locate the cell in such dense undergrowth, especially from this height. We'll need to go down lower but still stay airborne to have any chance of locating it"

Shepard nodded, before observing: "I can see why they set up camp here. All this dense foliage makes for a good hiding place."

"Sunny too" Garrus quipped again.

"You do know that its teeming with predators who have killed their share of Turians right?" Shepard quipped back.

"You're no fun Shepard" Garrus replied, feigning hurt at Shepard's remark.

"If you boys are done we have a cell to find" Miranda interjected

Shepard nodded. "Yeah, you're right. EDI, do you have any way of locating the cell? Tracking their communications perhaps?"

"Yes, through the Normandy's scanners I have detected an anomaly on the eastern edge of the jungle. I recommend investigating there first"

"Thanks EDI"

The Kodiak changed directions and went east, following the "anomaly" the scanners had detected. As the Kodiak continued its flight, the three occupants took in more of the lush jungles, the rolling hills and curves in the land, and even a majestic waterfall.

"Looks just like a postcard: dear Council: kicking ass in outer space, wish you were here"

Shepard couldn't help but laugh at that one. "I'd consider taking a vacation here if it weren't for the aforementioned animal problem."

"I'd go anyway. I always pack my sniper rifle"

Shepard was all set to chuckle again when Miranda's voice cut him off: "The cell is within sight"

Shepard and Garrus turned and saw that indeed, a mess of grayish-white buildings with an all-too familiar logo where off in the distance. But before the Kodiak could close in, land, or do anything for that matter, it shook violently, threatening to toss its three occupants around like rag-dolls.

"What the hell was that?" Garrus shouted.

"We've been hit. They must have had anti-air guns we didn't see!" Miranda said panicking.

The Kodiak suddenly began to plummet downwards, heading for the ground at a dangerously fast pace.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

And with this, Miranda's day went from manageable to hell.

-X-

"Alert, connection with Commander Shepard's team lost"

"EDI, what the hell is going on?"

"Unknown Jeff, but I believe that Commander Shepard has encountered some…complications"

"Complications my ass" Jacob set, running up to the cockpit. "I'm taking a second team down to figure out what the hell is going on"

"Understood Operative Taylor. Jeff and I will manage the ship in the meantime."

Jacob nodded and ran down to the hangar area, beckoning Mordin to come with him. The good doctor was nearest to him and he'd rather not waste time searching around for other willing candidates.

As Jacob and Mordin made their way to the hangar, Jacob was all set to call down either Samara or Tali but a familiar obnoxious voice halted his efforts:

"Hey, I want in on this"

Jacob looked up and frowned upon seeing that it was Jack. He had a low opinion of the unstable biotic, and had said as much to Shepard in private. Even Thane and Zaeed were preferable to her. At least those two had some measure of self-control. At least Thane did anyway. Jack just seemed to be full of anger and rage non-stop, especially for the group Jacob had until just recently been a part of.

"Uh, Jack I—"

"Stow it. I said I want in. You could use someone like me and you know it. Besides I need an excuse to get off this fucking ship"

"Jack's temper high right now." Mordin observed. "Aware that physical exertion can be good stress reliever for humans. Biotic power levels also quite useful. Recommend taking Jack along"

"What he said" Jack said. Jacob sighed.

"All right fine. But you follow orders. Understood?"

"I'll consider it"

Jacob rolled his eyes but said nothing in response. Instead he beckoned for Jack to come along and she did. The hangar doors opened and the second Kodiak made its way down to where Shepard's team had been shot down. As they flew down, Jack thought about how Miranda was down there and remembered what she had said to Shepard when he headed off their first cat-fight:

"_I'd hate to see her die before I get the chance to **filet her myself**"_

**Author's Note: Oh boy. Things ain't looking too good! Did anyone catch the little Halo reference I snuck in?**

**Yeah, I know the chapter's short, but I'll try to update soon, I promise!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Shepard forcibly kicked down the door to the destroyed Kodiak Shuttle, which landed with a loud and resounding thud that echoed throughout the jungle. Shepard was the first out, helping Garrus and Miranda get out as well.

"Damn, that hurt" Garrus muttered

"I'm just amazed we're not all dead" Miranda said in response. Her eyes scanned the area, getting nothing but a never-ending mess of trees, roots, and unidentifiable flora. She shook her head.

"Its impossible to tell where we are, we're all injured from the crash, and if the history of this planet is any indication I don't fancy are chances against the local wildlife."

"Cerberus seems to have managed. We can too"

"Your optimism is like a breath of fresh air" Garrus responded sarcastically.

"I'm in agreement with Vakarian on this"

"How is it that my best friend and XO are both no fun at all?" Shepard teased. "Come on, we may be shaken but we can all still walk and shoot."

"We have no idea where that cell is now and wandering around in the jungle will just get us killed" Miranda pointed out.

"I'm fairly certain I remember what direction we were going before getting shot down. We just keep going that way on foot"

Miranda shook her head. "I think it's a better idea to wait here until the Normandy sends help, preferably an extraction"

The conversation was cut off by the sound of a hideous gurgling noise, which began coming from every direction.

"I think we may have to scrap that plan Miri" Shepard remarked.

What came next happened too quickly for any of the three to fully understand. Several large forms burst out of the foliage and attacked them. Wasting no time, Shepard and Garrus opened fire with their Pulse Rifle and Vindicator respectively while Miranda did the same with her Tempest. Finally, one of the things collapsed to the ground. Miranda got a good look at it. It resembled a Silver-Back Gorilla from Earth in size and shape but with skin that was clearly reptilian. It also had four arms and was shedding blood identical to Garrus'. Evidently the predators here were dextro-amino-acid based with hemocyain in their blood, same as the Turians who tried so desperately to colonize it.

"Miranda look out!"

Bringing her attention back to the here and now, Miranda ducked to avoid a swipe of another one of the predator's trunk-like arms and retaliated with a Warp that hit it at point-blank range. The blast clearly staggered the creature, but it was far from dead. Miranda got a good look at its face, looking vaguely like a Krogan with mandibles and no crest. It let out a bellow directed at her that was Miranda's hint to move out of the way. Sure enough, the behemoth charged at her, and Miranda barely managed to avoid its wild, swinging arms as she peppered it with fire from her Tempest along with a Warp tossed in for good measure. A shot to the side of the head from either Garrus or Shepard finally brought it down.

Another one of the creatures ran at Miranda, who shot it in the face repeatedly with her Tempest until there wasn't much of the head left. The brutish thing collapsed dead as Garrus and Shepard killed another one. The last remaining beast fled back into the dense jungle as it saw the last of its pack fall. With the battle over, the trio reloaded their weapons and took to examining the creatures they had shot dead.

"I'm gonna call these things "Dino-Apes" from now on. Anyone object to that?"

Miranda and Garrus both shook their heads "no" and kept their guns at the ready. As they made a sweep of the area, Shepard attempted to radio for help: "Normandy, this is Shepard. We got shot down and are pinned down in a predator-infested zone. We are holding out but need extraction"

"I read you Shepard" Jacob's voice responded. "I'm on my way down right now with a second team to pick you guys up as we speak"

"Then double time it Taylor. We'll be here when you guys arrive"

"Understood commander."

Shepard turned to Miranda and Garrus: "Hold here. Jacob will be here soon to pick us u—"

Shepard was cut off by a loud rumbling sound that resounded through the are and shook the ground. Miranda struggled to maintain her footing and could see Garrus doing the same. Then, as quickly as it had come, it stopped, only to then start up again, this time feeling closer then before. Miranda could see Shepard's face take on a horrified expression that she had almost never seen on him before.

"There is no way our luck is this bad…"

Then, out of the ground burst a large tan centipede-like creature with no eyes, two large praying-mantis like arms, and a mouth adorned with two pincers on each side and a long glowing blue tongue coming out. Miranda, Shepard, and Garrus recognized this creature anywhere: thought it was much younger and smaller then the others Shepard had killed, the massive creature staring them down was a Thresher Maw.

"Oh **_hell_** no…"

-X-

Jack sat stewing in silence as the Kodiak continued its flight down to Shepard, Miranda, and Garrus' position. Jack for one was almost dying for the chance to get to tear the supposed deadly predators on the planet apart with her biotics.

_And maybe the cheerleader too while I'm at it…. _Jack mused.

Mordin, meanwhile, was busy staring at his omni-tool, big bulging eyes poring over whatever it was that it was telling him.

"Hmm…Invictus ecosystem chaotic. Predators run rampant everywhere, not enough herbivores left to sustain all of them, means predators will soon turn on each-other once Herbivore species go extinct…" Mordin shook his head. "Problematic".

Jack rolled her eyes. "Who cares about some dumb animals?"

Mordin looked up from his work and took on a miffed expression. "Ecosystems _always _fascinating" Mordin insisted. "Also important. Bad ecosystem bad for planet, could lead to dire consequences later on for future life, *Sharp inhale* even hamper planet's worth to Turians"

"Whatever you say Frog-head"

Mordin made an indignant huff but said nothing further and instead returned to his work, muttering to himself under his breath about how only one herbivore species had developed effective enough countermeasures against predators or some-such and how this was "problematic". Jack just tuned it out and checked her Scimitar to make sure it was ready to blast the brains out of any animal or Cerberus fucker dumb or unlucky enough to get in her way.

Suddenly, the Kodiak shook violently, jolting both Mordin and Jack, the latter of whom shouted out to Jacob: "The _**fuck **_man?"

"Something's ramming into us"

"Ramming? Impossible. Missiles would have caused visible damage if not destroyed us outright. Airborne predators then?"

"Shut up!" Jack shouted at Mordin before yelling at Jacob: "Open the damn door, I wanna see what the fuck's attacking us!"

To Jack's surprise, Jacob obeyed and opened one of the side doors. Jack peeked her head out and saw two large flying creatures of a brick color circling around the Kodiak and ramming into it, jolting the Kodiak again each time. The shuttle began to plummet.

"Get those things off of us now!" Jacob ordered. Jack made a wicked grin.

"With pleasure"

Jack waited until one of the flying beasts came within range again and readied a biotic blast, along with her favorite battle-cry:

"I WILL DESTROY YOU!"

The flying beast cocked its head to face Jack and the Convict responded by launching a massive biotic Warp that hit the thing right in its ugly four-eyed face. The creature let out a shriek that sounded like an odd mix between a squawk and a cat being strangled and pulled back and flew away from the Kodiak.

"That it? Fucking pussy"

The Kodiak was jolted again by the second flying monster, and this time, the Kodiaks jolting caused Jack to go tumbling out. Next thing Jack knew, she was plummeting down into the jungles.

_Oh shit_

-X-

Thresher Maws were, for lack of a better way of putting it, giant sand-worms that Shepard had fought several times during his hunt for Saren and once again on Tuchunka when helping Grunt undergo his rite of passage. They were, without exaggeration, the biggest and deadliest foes the good commander had ever faced excluding the Reapers. And now one was attacking him again, and though it was far younger and smaller than the ones Shepard had faced in the past, it still easily dwarfed him, Garrus, and Miranda in size. Shepard briefly recalled how a fellow N7 Marine, Isaac Jones, a former member of the Tenth Street Reds turned Alliance soldier, had been part of a platoon that succumbed to a Cerberus-engineered Thresher Maw attack on Akuze. Jones was the only one to make it out alive, and was traumatized for months afterwards.

Instinct taking over, Shepard raced to his companions, but the Thresher Maw had already struck, launching a glob of acid in his companions' direction. The world slowed for a moment as Shepard looked on in horror as a sick glob of acid went sailing towards his best friend and lover and he was powerless to do anything about it. But fortunately, Miranda and Garrus both managed to get out of the way in time and the acid glob smashed into the ground instead, singing the soil it struck as drops of it went flying in all directions, damaging but thankfully not disrupting the trio's energy shields.

Shepard sprinted forward after Garrus and Miranda, who's gunfire did little to no damage to the young Thresher Maw. Soon, the creature had burrowed back into the ground. Shepard knew what was coming next and shouted at Miranda and Garrus to move. But as his two companions attempted to heed his warning, the Thresher Maw burst out on the other side of the Kodiak crash site and launched another blast of acid. Shepard pushed Miranda out of the way as Garrus rolled to the side, continuing to fire on the Thresher Maw with his Vindicator.

"We're sitting ducks out here, we need to find some higher ground!" Garrus shouted.

Miranda and Shepard nodded and the trio took off into the jungle. Normally a very bad idea but Thresher Maws had a tendency to elicit desperation in people. As Zaeed had once told Shepard: "_Standard operating procedure when you get a thresher maw is run the hell away. Pick up sticks, move the hell out!"_

And so Shepard opted to heed the grizzled old mercenary's advice and continued to run alongside Garrus and Miranda. But then out of nowhere, Shepard felt the ground buckle beneath his feet right before the Thresher Maw burst out not far from where he, Garrus, and Miranda where, sending them flying and then landing hard on their backs. And as the monster rose from the ground fully, Shepard couldn't see Miranda anywhere.

Panicking, and adrenaline now really starting to surge through his veins, Shepard shouted out to Garrus: "Garrus, special weapon NOW!"

Nodding in obedience, Garrus drew the "special weapon" that Jacob had been working on. Its designation was the M-920 Cain, and from what little Shepard had gathered, it was essentially a large rocket launcher. Perfect for downing something like a Thresher Maw.

Garrus hefted the massive thing and fired his shot as the Thresher Maw turned to face him. The rocket sailed right into the young Thresher Maw's opened mouth before it could fire another blast of acid at Garrus. Mere moments later, the Thresher Maw's head exploded in a shower of sticky liquid that Shepard narrowly avoided getting soaked in. Garrus wasn't as lucky. When he emerged, his armor looked like it had changed colors. And Garrus didn't look happy about it in the least.

"So that's what this thing does..." Garrus muttered as he looked down at the Cain. "Remind me to thank Jacob"

Shepard nodded. "Just keep it ready if anything like that Thresher Maw show up…" Shepard then turned around to see where Miranda was.

"Miranda?"

-X-

Miranda's entire body ached in pain, but as she slowly forced herself up, she could feel no significant bleeding, which meant that she wasn't out of it just yet. Attempting to rise to her feet, Miranda found the hard way that her tumbling down the hill after the Thresher Maw erupted out of the ground had given her a twisted ankle.

Miranda cursed loudly, something she rarely did, and began applying Medi-Gel to her injury in the hopes that she could at least get up and start moving again. But as the Medi-Gel set to work re-aligning the broken bones Miranda's ankle, she heard voices:

"Damn jungle's a death-trap. No wonder the Turians never manage to stay here"

"Whatever the hell the boss is doing it had better be worth all the men we've lost on this shit-hole" another voice replied to the first one.

"Not to mention all the hours we've spent wading through the jungle and blowing away stupid predators" the first voice replied.

His companion was all set to respond when they stopped dead in their tracks upon seeing Miranda. Miranda for her part immediately recognized the bulky white armor and eerie-looking helmets that covered the entire head and face as being the attire of Cerberus Assault Troopers. If it had been just a few weeks ago, she would have yelled at them to help her. But now…

"What the hell-?"

Miranda launched a Warp directly into the first Assault Trooper's face and downed the second with shots to the head from her Carnifex. As the two Assault Troopers fell down dead, Miranda finally managed to awkwardly rise to her feet, keeping her Carnifex at the ready.

"Well, well, look who it is…"

Miranda whipped around in terror at the sound of a voice she never thought she'd hear again and never, ever, wanted too either. Turning around fully, she saw a man in the older Cerberus Assault Armor, the kind Shepard had been given a suit of shortly after his joining Cerberus. His helmet's visor was completely black, obscuring his face, but she knew who it was by his voice.

"Richard…"

"Hello Miranda. I seem to recall never wanting to see you again. Bad idea to end up in my path."

Miranda kept her Carnifex trained on him. Richard had never beaten her in a fight before and he would not do so now.

"I've been waiting a long time to make you suffer for what you did to me. Good-bye Miranda. I have nothing more to say to you"

As Richard said this, several more Cerberus Assault Troopers came out from the brush, with SMGs and Assault Rifles trained on her. Suddenly Miranda's odds looked much worse.

And then all present were temporarily knocked to their feet by a massive shockwave that rippled through the area. Turning to the source of it, Miranda saw one of her least favorite people in the galaxy in a miniature crater of her own making and consumed in a biotic glow.

Jack turned to face the Cerberus Assault Troopers and Miranda could see the wicked smile on her face.

"Play time"

**Author's Note: Cliff-hanger! But who is Richard? And what kind of past does he have with the perfect miss Lawson? You'll just have to wait and see!**

**I had fun imagining the kinds of creatures that would inhabit a planet like Invictus. I figured they'd have to be pretty deadly to do so much damage to the Turians that were always trying to colonize the planet.**

**And yes, Isaac Jones is an OC who I purposefully gave an Earthborn-Sole Survivor background.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Upon seeing Richard again, Miranda's mind flashed back to a talk she and Shepard had had shortly after the Collector Base's destruction and her defection from Cerberus. She had felt it necessary to lay all the cards on the table so to speak. Make sure the man she loved knew just what she had done during the 17 ½ years she had worked for Cerberus. She knew she ran a risk of losing him this way, but it was a risk she was prepared to take. The power of love she supposed, even if that was something she had never believed in before excluding perhaps her feelings for her sister.

"_So what kind of work did you do for Cerberus?"_

"_Well, when I first joined it was little things. Assisting higher-ranking personnel, providing an extra set of hands and a second opinion for my handler…" She paused before finishing her sentence, her tone becoming derisive. "Fetch quests. And other trials and tests with which I proved my worth"_

"_And I take it you passed with flying colors?"_

_Miranda nodded. "Obviously, although the kind of things they had me do, anyone with half a brain could have done just as well. But that only lasted for the year and half after I left my father. Once I became Oriana's age Cerberus started assigning me a multitude of different tasks. Some I did in less than a day, others taking months, and in one case a year and a half. No two missions were ever the same"_

"_I take it you liked that diversity. And the challenge"_

_Miranda nodded. "Yes. As I told you before, they'd give me my resources and send me on my way. In my entire time working for them whenever I was in charge of anything they wouldn't care how exactly I got results, just that I did…" she scoffed. "That should have been my first clue as to what they were like but…having all that freedom, that power, it was…intoxicating I suppose. And I never had to do anything that went against my moral sensibilities, and yes I did have them once upon a time, and I always got Cerberus what they wanted anyway, so I suppose that granted me a certain level of assurance that we were in the right. I was damned determined to show them I knew how to succeed in whatever task they assigned me to do, whether I was in charge, a lieutenant, or even just one of many operatives on a mission. After 6 years, I started leading my own cells, at which point I was in full control of everything I did. Or so I convinced myself"_

_The look on Shepard's face told her that he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to his next question but he asked all the same: "And…what kind of things did your cells do?"_

_Miranda frowned but nevertheless responded: "Nothing even remotely like Akuze, Pragia, or Aite if that's what you were wondering" Miranda said with just a touch of annoyance. "Cerberus wouldn't have been able to keep my unquestioning loyalty for as long as they had if I had to constantly question just how in the right we really were. No, the cells I ran dealt mostly in establishing a strong human presence in various alien-dominant parts of the galaxy. We would insert, "sleeper agents" if you would wherever we could, and monitor their progress. They were all tasked with the same thing…"_

"_To give humans a strong foot-hold across the galaxy?"_

_Miranda nodded. "A simplification, but an accurate one. And whenever I wasn't doing that I was usually running after the kind of scum the Council and the Alliance either didn't have time for or thought was beneath my notice. But to Cerberus they were neither."  
_

"_Did you ever…."_

"_Do anything that as you would put it "crossed the line"?" Miranda sighed deeply before responding: "Yes. I did. Not all the time but often enough. Mostly I used people, led them along, convinced them I was on their side…"_

"_And then they outlived their usefulness and you discarded them" Shepard's tone had been cold, severe. He had every right to sound this way. She was confessing all of her sins to him and hoping for the best but expecting the worst._

"_Yes. I tried to avoid having to kill them when possible but that wasn't always an option. And yes, I did lose sleep over it…initially. Over time, I just…grew colder. More ruthless. I stopped caring who I hurt, always coming up with some justification or another. There was usually one. I never did anything without a damn good reason" She sighed deeply. "I always thought I knew exactly what Cerberus stood for. What the Illusive Man stood for. That assurance made everything simpler…how could I have been so naïve?"_

"_You're not the first to suffer from hubris you know" Shepard said. Despite the assuring words, he looked somewhat grim in demeanor. After saying what he said, he fell silent as he weighed what Miranda had already told him. Both of them found themselves wondering just how much of Miranda's Cerberus persona remained. Could Shepard still love her if he knew about everything she had done in Cerberus' name? Of course he could, she thought. He had proven how much he cared about her, and she had never been like the monsters who ran the Teltin Facility or the infamous Kai Leng. Icy and occasionally ruthless when it came to getting the job done was one thing. Sadistic and heartless and possessing no moral or ethical boundaries whatsoever was something else. Once again, she cursed herself for thinking that what she saw at first glance was the whole picture. Things were never that transparent, she knew that. But she had been so young and desperate to get away from her father back then…_

_Never the less the question had escaped her lips: "Shepard, do—"_

_He cut her off almost immediately. "I still love you Miranda. From what you've told me, I wouldn't call you evil…just deluded"_

_Miranda made a humorless chuckle. "I suppose I should count my blessings" she said sarcastically, though she also had a faint smile that showed she wasn't truly bitter towards him. If he had called her that back when she was still with Cerberus she would have promptly ended their relationship on the spot. But now she was relieved that that was the worst thing he could say about her._

_But then her face fell as one particularly bad and painful memory came to the forefront of her mind. Seeing her smile disappear, Shepard's demeanor became one of concern._

"_What is it Miranda?"_

"_There is…one other thing I need to tell you. It was a particular incident involving a fellow Cerberus operative, one I recruited and helped train actually…his name was Richard…"_

-X-

For Miranda it was her worst nightmare. Stuck on a world teeming with dangerous predators, cut off from Shepard, and now facing down a squad of Cerberus Assault Troopers, a ghost from the past, and the woman who was far and away her least favorite person on the Normandy.

The second Jack propelled herself forward via her biotics, things erupted into total chaos and Miranda found herself silently surprised that she wasn't shot dead on the spot amidst all the gunfire.

"Who the hell is this?"

"It's Subject Zero!"

"Crazy bitch is using biotics, shoot her down!"

"I WILL DESTROY YOU!" Jack roared as she tossed an unlucky Assault Trooper into the air with her biotics while Miranda wisely chose to try and get to the underbrush for cover. Unfortunately Richard had lost none of his intelligence in their years apart. He saw her trying to make a getaway and fired several shots from his Hornet near her feet, deterring her from her attempted escape and prompting her to turn around and confront him.

"The next shots will be higher" Richard warned in a cold voice.

And then without any further warning he began firing his Hornet without reservation. The first few bullets hit Miranda before she could roll but her shields took the shots for her. She rolled to avoid the others, her shields now gone. She launched a Warp at him to keep him on his toes, but he effortlessly dispelled it.

"Still treating me like a child. You really haven't changed"

As Richard said this, he unleashed a biotic shockwave that prompted Miranda to backpedal, shooting out with her Carnifex to discourage Richard from trying to take a potshot at Miranda while she was retreating. Without missing a beat, Richard launched out another Biotic shockwave. This one knocked Miranda flat on her back. Forcing herself up just enough to take aim, she fired several Carnifex shots at Richard's head. The first shots was absorbed by his shields, and the last by his helmet, which Richard discarded, exposing his fair-skinned face with slick black hair and piercing blue eyes. In another world he could have been a movie star. But the look in those blue eyes showed a man who had seen and done things that would kill a person's soul.

Richard was all set to attack her again when a biotic blast knocked him down. Rolling with the attack, he quickly regained his footing and turned to face his new attacker, who was standing over a heap of dead Cerberus Assault Troopers.

"**_I'm done with the appetizers_**!" Jack roared. "I want the main course! You the boss man of these Cerberus fuckers?"

Before Richard could answer, Jack fired a biotic shockwave in his direction. Richard retaliated by launching a Warp at Jack. It was a biotic battle that Miranda was tempted to wait out but in the end chosing to come to Jack's aid, slinging another Warp in Richard's direction. Upon seeing that she was not alone in her fight, Jack turned to confront her.

"Cheerleader"

"Cheerleader? Cute nickname" Richard said matter-of-factly as he casually deflected another biotic attack from Jack and retaliated with both another Warp and more fire from his Hornet.

"Is this the best you and your new friend can do? Pathetic"

While Miranda wasn't blindly arrogant, (though she sometimes intentionally gave off that image) she did have a fairly large ego, and she didn't like having her abilities, _any _of her abilities, be belittled or dismissed by anyone, least of all someone like Richard. And this, coupled with her recently reopened old wounds and also everything else she was having to deal with at the moment, caused her to lose what little remained of her temper.

Her body consumed in a biotic aura, Miranda lashed out at Richard with as much biotic force as she could muster. She gave no quarter and held nothing back, even though the more rational part of her brain was arguing against expending all of her biotic energy in one sitting, especially when it might be all for nought. As Miranda continued her biotic onslaught she shouted at Richard: "You think I still treat you like a child Richard? Well the truth is you _are_ still one. You're still an insolent and pathetic excuse of a person. And you always will be!"

Richard's face took on a dark expression. Without warning, he whipped around and shot Jack square in the legs with his Hornet. Jack swore loudly and fell to her knees. Richard sent her hurtling through the air with a biotic charged swing of his arm and then directed his attention back to Miranda.

Now Miranda had been a very cold person for several years of her life. "The Ice Queen" they always called her. Shepard had melted that ice, showing that, as corny as it sounded, all she really did need was someone who cared. Someone who was honest with her and never tried to use her for their own selfish ends. But before that, and even after to a degree, she maintained a level of cold professionalism with those she did not consider friends or in Shepard and Oriana's case something far more than friends.

But what she saw in Richard's eyes made her blood freeze.

Letting out a snarl she would have associated more with a wild animal or possibly a Krogan or Vorcha, Richard's whole person became fully consumed in the blue flames of a biotic field. It reminded her far too much of the rogue Asari Spectre Tela Vasir, who in her fight with Shepard, Miranda, Liara, and Legion had entered a similar state of biotic power when finally pushed to the point of pure, total rage.

And then, with a scream of fury, Richard unleashed the full might of his biotic power.

A pair of particularly large trees that were behind Miranda were consumed in a biotic field and soon splinters began flying in all directions. The trees slowly but surely began to snap and break near the base, and it was then that Miranda chose to take her chances. Running as fast as she could, Miranda narrowly avoided the two large trees as Richard used his biotics to rip them right out of the soil and slam them into the ground, no doubt with the intent of flattening Miranda then and there. He was going to be disappointed.

Miranda continued to run, stopping only to unleash a spray of fire from her Tempest at Richard, who let out another snarl, whipped around, and raised the fallen trees into the air and hurled them at her again. Rolling to avoid them as the trees crashed to either side of her in a cacophony of breaking branches and whatever it was these trees were actually made of, Miranda blindly fired one last Warp, now completely drained of biotic capability from the time being.

As Miranda looked out, her Tempest still held at the ready, she could see that the same could be said of Richard. He was panting heavily, his arms held limply at his sides, and Miranda could even see blood trail down out of one of his nostrils. He had pushed himself to his limits and as a consequence was completely vulnerable.

"There they are! The commander's still standing!"

Or not.

Turning around, Miranda saw a Centurion-led squad of Cerberus Assault Troopers making their way to her, Jack, and Richard's position. Normally her being hopelessly outnumbered wouldn't have necessarily meant that she stood no chance. She knew how to deal with rank-and-file Cerberus thugs. But as it stood she was far too exhausted for a solo firefight, and was also drained of her biotic ability. In this case, discretion was the better part of valor.

Miranda staggered to her feet. Richard, still exhausted, gave her a look that would have gone through a lesser person like a sniper round but made no attempt to stop Miranda's escape. Miranda was all set to run off into the jungle when her eyes turned to Jack, unconscious on the ground.

A part of Miranda was sorely tempted to just leave her and tell Shepard that she hadn't made it but several things stopped her: One, she knew full well what Cerberus would do to Jack if they got their hands on her again and much as Miranda hated her she wasn't heartless. She wouldn't leave Jack to the kind of hell Cerberus would subject her to. Again. Two, even if she did go through with it, she would likely feel terrible about it afterwards, and three, any attempt to lie to Shepard would likely be met with failure followed by disgust and contempt. No petty rivalry was worth losing his love.

Rushing to Jack's side, Miranda picked her up and held arm over her shoulder so that Jack was now leaning on her and ran off with her into the jungle.

_Anxiously looking forward to when she wakes up. _Miranda thought sarcastically. _She's going to be in __**such**__ a charming mood when she does_

**Author's Note: Long chapter I know but there was a lot to cover here. I admit I probably got a bit carried away with that flashback but I felt that it was necessary. Don't worry, more about Richard will be revealed as the story progresses.**

**As one could guess I like Miranda. She's my favorite of the female party members actually. And the fact is, my Shepard's opinions of her reflect my own. I don't see her as bad or evil, even when with Cerberus, just deluded. I mean, yeah, she's a Cerberus loyalist, but that's because she bought into their lies, not because she's a xenophobic psychopath like Kai Leng. She really does want humanity to succeed (something I don't blame her for, as I too am pro-human but not anti-alien). She doesn't seem to have any real problem with aliens.**

**Secondly, Jack, Javik, Zaeed, and even Wrex have all done and said things that are far from noble and also things that are much worse than anything Miranda ever said or did. Hell, even Garrus in 2 had a serious dark side and Thane Krios and Samara kill in cold blood. I don't consider a single one of them evil (except for maybe Zaeed). So therefore, I don't see Miranda as any more evil than Jack is. Cerberus loyalty does not **_**necessarily **_**(though it usually does) equal monster. While its fine to judge a group as a whole, when dealing with individuals you have to judge them as individuals and not as face-less members of a group. And Miri, though cold and bitingly critical of others sometimes, is not a bad person.**

**So that's my two cents anyway. Hope everyone is enjoying the story!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Shepard's eyes scanned the battlefield before him, a mess of dead Cerberus troops and even two felled trees. It was a pretty chaotic sight needless to say, but even so, Shepard could still see very clearly that Miranda was nowhere to be found.

"Dammit. If Cerberus has her…" Shepard shook his head. He couldn't afford to think like that. He wouldn't think like that. Miranda could take care of herself…

"Shepard…how long?"

Shepard turned to face Garrus, still covered in Thresher Maw blood. "How long what?"

"How long have you two been…ah…"

Shepard realized that Garrus had finally caught onto the fact that he and Miranda were together. Heaving a sigh, Shepard decided to answer truthfully. Garrus was his best friend after all.

"I really don't know. I mean…" he trailed off before saying: "She was the first person I saw when I woke up. Hell, I thought she was an angel at first…it…it does something to you. Call it a form of imprinting if you want, but…I don't know. I think I've been attracted to her for a while now, but it wasn't love at first sight. After all there were barriers. Lots of them. But after I helped her with her sister on Illium, I think we became closer…" Shepard shrugged. "One thing led to another I guess"

Garrus nodded, the look on his face almost suggesting to Shepard that this was a story he had heard before. "And so you've been sleeping together ever since"

Shepard rolled his eyes in response to Garrus' sarcasm but Garrus added: "Relax Shepard. Your love life's your own business. I can't say I trust her but if she makes you happy I won't do anything. Hell she's not even with Cerberus anymore, so I don't really see the harm"

"Thanks Garrus. Now come on, we're going further into the jungle."

"I take it that means we're going after Miranda and not the cell?"

"One thing at a time"

"Can't Miranda take care of herself?"

"Alone on a planet filled with Cerberus and dangerous predators? I'm not taking that chance, and I'm not leaving anyone behind. You, Miranda, no one. Now come on. If Miranda was here she will have gone further into the ju-"

Shepard was cut off when gunshots hit him square in the chest, with only his energy shields and N7 armor keeping him from being killed instantly. Cursing, Shepard backpedaled, drew his Viper and opened fire on the Cerberus troopers who were now shooting at him.

"Looks like Miranda will have to wait a little longer" Garrus muttered as he drew his Mantis…

-X-

Jack was the kind of person who had been in enough fights for ten people. Part of it was bad luck, part of it was her incredibly poor choice of surroundings and associes, and part of it was the fact that she was as bloodthirsty and confrontational as humanly possible.

In any event, enough broken bones, cuts, and bruises over the years had toughened her some, and her biotic skill only got stronger with age, but in spite of it all, she was still only human. And as she awoke to a fierce burning pain in her legs the likes of which he hadn't experienced often before, she was painfully reminded of this. And upon seeing who was hovering over her, Jack found her situation become even more unpleasant.

_Of fuck my shitty-ass luck_

-X-

Miranda hovered over Jack's body, applying all the Medi-Gel she still had on her to Jack's shot up legs. It wouldn't be long before Jack could stand up again, but as Jack opened her eyes, Miranda could see plainly that her not having to hear Jack be Jack was about to come to an end.

_Terrific_

"OW! What the fuc—"

"You were shot" Miranda said bluntly. "I'm applying medi-gel to the injuries right now. You should be up and walking soon"

"How fucking sweet of you" Jack replied with equal parts sarcasm and venomous hatred.

"I could have just left you you know. Maybe you should consider being a little grateful. I only did save your life"

"Fuck that. I can take care of myself. I don't need or want your sorry ass looking after me"

"Right" Miranda said, fighting hard to keep from losing her temper. "Because you were doing _so_ well against those Cerberus forces when they shot you square in the legs" she said with icy sarcasm.

"Yeah, who the fuck was that dude anyway? That was some crazy-ass biotic strength he was rocking. He brought down a fucking tree! Even I can't do that!"

"Richard is an exceptionally powerful biotic. I learned that not long after he had come to Cerberus' attention…"

"Oh so you know this Cerberus ass-hole do you?" Jack scoffed. "Should have figured. You being the big Cerberus bitch, wouldn't be surprised i—"

This was finally enough to make Miranda snap. She had just enough of being repeatedly vilified by this glorified street thug for her admittedly regrettable in hindsight career choices, and Richard's involvement only made everything worse. Fighting off the urge to blow Jack's brains right out of her skull, Miranda said in a cold rage: "Listen to me you _stupid, spiteful little misanthrope_. I am **_not with Cerberus anymore_**! And even when I was I wasn't the one who locked you up like an animal! All this is is an idiotic and unreasonable grudge, and it is _not helping_! We are stranded on a hostile world, with limited ammunition, and I'm drained of biotics…"

"Cry me a fucking river"

"…and you insisting on continuing this ridiculous vendetta is only going to get you or me killed. By this point I honestly have no problem at all with the former. It's the latter I want to avoid. You either bury this stupid grudge of yours, or you can die here in a ditch like an animal"

"A GRUDGE? You're calling what they did to me a fucking grudge!? They tortured me for _**years! **_I don't have a god-damned childhood because of those sons of bitches! They took **_everything_** from me! Pumped me full of drugs, tried to turn me into a cold-hearted killer…" she made a dark humorless chuckle. "Well, they got that part right"

Jack's grin turned back to pure, unrestrained contempt as she glared at Miranda. "Don't you call that a god-damned grudge"

Jack's words were exactly what Zaeed had said to Shepard when he accused the mercenary's obsession with Vido as being a grudge. Miranda had been there, silently approving of how Shepard kept that lunatic in his place. She wasn't so ruthless that she would let innocent people burn to death just to get some petty revenge.

Sweeping aside the memories and refocusing, Miranda responded: "Jack…what they did to you was wrong, I don't deny that…"

She could see Jack's face take on an expression of total shock and surprise. She might as well have told her that she was in love with her from the reaction she got. Miranda decided to continue before Jack had time to recover: "…but how long do you intend to keep playing the victim card? Jack, as terrible as what happened at that facility was, there comes a time when you need to grow up, put it to rest, and move on. Otherwise you'll just continue to suffer. You need to let yourself heal"

Jack scoffed. "Please. You don't give a shit about me. You're just a stone cold bitch who uses people and then tosses em away like garbage. Just like anybody in Cerberus"

That particular accusation stung, as it had just some truth to it. Miranda had in the past used and discarded people, but felt that she had changed so much since then, thanks in no small part to Shepard's influence. For that change to be so undervalued and discarded affected her more than she wanted to believe or admit. Nevertheless, outwardly she retained her composure and said: "Jack, I meant what I just said"

"Yeah? Then how come you didn't admit it back on the Normandy after Shepard and I blew Teltin to hell?"

"My pride wouldn't let me stroke your ego, but now I'm telling the truth. And the truth is that when I saw the list of children that were killed there I was disgusted. But I stayed loyal to Cerberus because I felt that they had earned that loyalty. They gave me protection from my father, and extended it to someone I care deeply about. You think you're the only one who's suffered? I didn't exactly have a happy childhood myself. My selfish bastard of a father saw to that."

"So Cerberus just gave you a nice little place to hide from him is that it? Doesn't change the fact that your friends were my torturers"

"No it doesn't. But I'm not with them anymore"

"Yeah, too bad it took you forever to jump ship. All those damn excuses and bullshit justifications you kept making for them. What the hell changed? Was it Shepard?"

Miranda didn't respond to that. Jack didn't know it, but she had stumbled upon what was at least part of the truth. Shepard _had_ helped open her eyes. He had never given up on her, or ever stopped loving her, but at the same time he never came to like Cerberus. After what she saw on Aite, followed shortly by the Illusive Man trying to keep a base that had liquefied millions of innocent humans alive intact, she could see why.

"Something like that" she finally said. If Jack had any inkling as to what was going on between her and Shepard, she didn't show it. Instead she just huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Well, the guy's a real damn messiah, I'll give him that"

"Be that as it may, I'm _**not Cerberus anymore**_. You can believe that or not. I honestly don't care. Like I said, my childhood wasn't any happier than yours. I was a prisoner of my fathers, having to constantly fear being tossed away like garbage for not meeting his expectations. Because that's exactly what happened to all of the others he…."made" before me. He just discarded them when they didn't live up to his impossibly high standards. I don't even know how many older sisters I have who he just disposed of like they were nothing…"

As Miranda looked on, Jack's face appeared to have softened just a little bit. Grown less hostile. Finally, she said: "I guess we ain't so different after all"

Miranda raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"You and me. I mean, Cerberus took me and made me something I never wanted to be, and your crazy-ass dad did the same with you. Locked you up in a pretty little cage and told you to be what he wanted or else. Only real difference between us that I can see is that my cage wasn't so pretty."

Miranda thought about it and found that, much as she hated to admit it, Jack was right. There _**was **_a similarity between them on that level. They both had so much potential to be great, but others had turned their gifts into curses and forced destinies they never wanted upon them. Miranda had been able to run away eventually, but Jack suffered longer and worse. They had both been caged, just in different ways, with her in a sugar-coated prison in the form of a nice house versus the brutal hell Jack had been through. But at heart it was the same.

For a moment Miranda imagined an alternate world, where their lives had been reversed. Where the Illusive Man decided that the little girl with incredible biotic potential would be the perfect enforcer, and she, the product of the most advanced in genetic manipulation would be a fun experiment for his scientists to pick apart to their black heart's content. She shuddered at the thought of becoming just like Jack, but she couldn't help but wonder: would _she_ have had the strength to rise above it and become something better? Or would she have turned out no better or worse than Jack?

She didn't want to know. Never wanted to know. Instead she said simply: "You're right. We're…" she struggled to finish her admission but did: "…not so different in that sense. But in spite of those similarities, in spite of what Cerberus did to you, I can't let you use me as a constant outlet for your rage just because I _used _to work form them. And only after what they did to you. I wasn't much older than you when Teltin was shut down"

"Fine, but you could have afforded to be a little less cold"

"Yes, I could have, and if I apologize for not acknowledging our similarities earlier will you cease your personal feud with me?"

Jack scoffed. "I'll consider it"

Miranda glared at her. Jack grinned. "Fine, fine, sure. I'll quit using ya as my stress ball and won't try to filet you. Happy?"

"Much. And I apologize for my earlier coldness towards you. I should have been more sensitive to what you went through, Cerberus loyalties or no"

"And it wasn't fair of me to constantly take my shit out on you just cause you were with Cerberus. Now are we done with the pillow talk or can we finally get a move on and get the fuck outta here?"

Miranda reasoned that she'd just have to take her small victories where she could. She'd gotten an apology, and though it was hard to gauge its sincerity she decided to take what she could get. Jack wasn't going to try and kill her and would work with her for at least as long as it took to get off Invictus.

"Yes, I believe its time for us to move"

"Good. I can't wait to kick some Cerberus bastards teeth in…no offense"

Miranda found herself taken off guard by that last part. But once it sunk in, she nodded and said simply: "None taken. Now let's move"

**Author's Note: I confess to never really liking Jack all that much. I don't **_**hate **_**the character, but she's not a favorite by any stretch of the imagination. I get that her life sucks, and I feel sorry for her on that level, but I feel that just because she had a terrible childhood it doesn't mean I'm obligated to love her. Admittedly, Miranda's detractors would argue the exact same thing, but I feel that with Miri, in spite of her angst over childhood woes she's actually **_**approachable **_**even polite and friendly when you talk to her on the Normandy (if not also extremely deluded concerning Cerberus) whereas Jack remains rude, nasty, and hostile. Again, I get that she's had it worse than most and I feel for her, but what Miranda says here kind of reflects what I think: that what Cerberus did to her was terrible, but there comes a point when you need to let it go and move on with your life, otherwise you're not doing anyone any favors.**

**Then again, Jack's probably fine with that…**

**But no, I don't hate Jack, and this is not a hate-fic. This is my attempt to make these two not want to kill each-other. No more no less. How am I doing so far?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Yay! An Update! Enjoy!**

Richard's cold blue gaze scanned the jungle, looking for the woman he had come to hate so. He knew of course that such an action was futile, but he just liked to think that he was watching her. That there was nowhere in this godforsaken jungle that she could hide from him.

A Centurion approached him. Richard hoped for his sake that he had good news.

"Well?" he asked harshly.

"My team has searched the jungle, no sign of Operative Lawson or Subject Zero"

"_**Ex-**_operative" Richard said, his voice filled with contempt. "And that wasn't the report I wanted to hear. Keep looking"

"Sir, with all due respect, the jungle is a death-trap. If we send more men in any deeper, we're going to lose more soldiers. Those two are probably dead alr—"

"**FIND THEM!**" Richard roared, taking the Centurion off guard. "I want that miserable bitch found. I don't care if its just her body, I want her found and brought to me. _**Do you understand**_?" he hissed.

The Centurion stammered for a moment before nodding and delivering a sharp salute.

"Yes Sir, I'll tell the men to keep looking sir."

Richard nodded. "See to it that you do". The Centurion nodded and scampered off and Richard went back to scanning the jungle with his cold blue eyes.

_Soon Miranda my dear, soon…you'll pay dearly for what you did to me_

-X-

As Jack and Miranda continued to navigate through the thick underbrush and vegetation of the jungle, Miranda's mind flashed back again to events of the past. An unhealthy habit and one that Miranda made a mental note to practice breaking out of before it became too late to change.

_She thought back to telling Shepard about Richard. When she had first met him she had been in her early twenties if she remembered correctly. Richard had been identified as someone with incredible biotic potential, but hadn't yet been discovered by the Alliance's Biotic divisions. Moving in before they could, Cerberus located Richard and after "securing" permission from the Alliance sent Miranda in to recruit him…by any means necessary. Miranda knew exactly why Cerberus had chosen her, but beauty was just one of many gifts her father had given her, so why not put it to good use?_

_She had approached him in the guise of a friend. A fellow college student. Easy enough cover, as Miranda really had been attending college at the time. She had befriended him, gotten to know him, spent time with him. She still remembered how he had looked back then: his hair not yet slick but rather messy and unruly, something she had mercilessly teased him about, and his eyes were filled with the warmth and happiness of someone who enjoyed their life. And then there was that gap he had in-between his front teeth. A little detail that she never forgot about him…_

_"You have great potential Richard" Miranda had told him. "You could become one of the most powerful human biotics to ever live. Such power could really help the galaxy"_

_"I suppose" Richard had said. "...but wouldn't I need someone to teach me first? And also those implants the other biotics get?"  
_

_"Yes. But Cerberus can provide you with all of that and more."  
_

_"But why does it have to be Cerberus? Can't the Alliance do it for me too?"  
_

_"You could become a powerful biotic under the Alliance, yes, but with Cerberus you could become even greater still."  
_

_"How?"  
_

_"Well for starters Cerberus can outfit you with more..."specialized" implants. Biotics technology that the mainstream Alliance does not yet have access to and won't for a long time. I've been upgraded with some of those implants myself, and they've really enhanced my biotic powers greatly. They'll do the same for you"_

_"I don't know Miri...it sounds kind of dirty to me. Like some kind of black market deal or something..."_

_"i can assure you that that is not the case" Miranda had said resolutely, painfully unaware of just how right Richard had been about Cerberus, even though they had been better back then. "Cerberus is a part of the Alliance, they just operate a bit, shall we say, "under the radar". And without any red tape. Personally I'd say that's vastly preferable to being just another biotic marine in the Alliance army or navy. There are already thousands of those. Don't you want to be something more than that Richard?"_

_"Well, I uh..." Richard hesitated. He blushed, and looked away. Miranda knew why. It always disgusted her remembering that, how she had so willingly used her body to seduce an innocent man into joining Cerberus.  
_

_Finally, Richard turned back to face her. "...alright Miri. I'll look into it"_

_Miranda didn't see Richard for a while after his induction into Cerberus. He was given other handlers who were more in a position to school him in how to properly use his biotics while Miranda continued aiding Cerberus in other ways. The two were finally reunited almost two years after their last meeting. _

_He had hugged her, made it clear that he had never forgotten her. Remembering this pained Miranda and made her hate herself for what she would later do…_

"…So what exactly did your crazy old man do to you?" Jack asked, shaking Miranda out of her thoughts. "…I mean, I hear ya got some "perfect" genes" or some crap like that, but what is it really?"

Miranda frowned. Even though they were now on considerably less hostile terms she wasn't sure she wanted to tell Jack something like that, or really anyone for that matter. Nevertheless, she decided to humor her: "I wasn't grown out of a test tube or a Petri dish if that's what you were wondering. My father used his DNA and the..."necessary female components" as he himself put it from "various desired sources"." Saying this gave Miranda such an awful taste in her mouth that she felt tempted to spit to be rid herself of it. "...after he did that, I went through the birthing process like any other human, just in a vat instead of a womb. So I'm not just raw elements and matter shaped like a human. I'm a real person…" she hesitated before finishing. "…flaws and all"

Jack scoffed. "Coulda fooled me"

Miranda glared at her and Jack returned it with a smile. "Relax cheerleader, I was just messing with ya is all. Gotta let me get a few in"

Miranda sighed but didn't press the issue. Silently she decided that it was indeed best to let Jack have some fun. Even if it was still at her expense.

As the two continued walking, Jack awkwardly navigated past a downed tree and grunted. "Damn, this fucking jungle's a bitch to move through…"

Miranda said nothing, instead keeping her blue-gray eyes on the look-out for any predators that might leap out of the darkness of the deep jungle at them, or possibly more Cerberus forces. Miranda knew both from what she had seen and the planet's history that she and Jack's odds of survival were low if any of the nastier predators on Invictus came their way. But for now it seemed they were in the clear…

…And then Miranda's black boot stepped on something that made a sickening crunch. Looking down, she saw a skeleton half-clad in the ruined armor of Cerberus Assault Troopers.

"Looks like he was ambushed by predators." Miranda observed matter-of-factly. "…They must have torn up his armor to try and get at his flesh…"

"My heart bleeds for him" Jack replied sarcastically before noticing something near him.

"Hey Cheerleader. Take a look at this"

Jack picked up a dirty datapad and tossed it over to Miranda. Miranda took a look at its contents. Most of it was inaccessible due to damage and too much exposure to the elements, but amazingly, the last entry was still intact:

_Comms say that we lost another team in the southern half of the jungle. More of those crawler-things from what I heard. Poor bastards. We lose people every day in this damned jungle, but the boss just sends in more men. Apparently whatever the nerds are working on is worth it. Guess that means we're just expendable._

_Knew I should have stuck with the Alliance._

Miranda shook her head and tossed the ruined datapad to the ground. All it had to say was what Miranda and Jack already knew all too well: that the jungle was a death-trap, and that it was it was only a matter of time before…

As if on cue, a sound that resembled shrieking pierced the air, making both Miranda and Jack cover their ears in pain.

"What the fuck is that noise?"

"Company" Miranda said in a deadpan. "And if I had to guess, we're its dinner"

"Well I ain't on the menu" Jack snarled, already becoming consumed in a biotic aura. Just in time, as out of the brush leaped several red creatures resembling spiders, but not quite like the Klixen on Tuchunka. These things were smaller, with lankier arms that they scurried across the ground on. They had no eyes that Miranda could see, suggesting sight through smell or something else, and finally they had several rows of teeth barred. But that wasn't the worst part.

Without warning, one of the creatures launched a glob of acid at Jack, which collided with and nearly dispelled her shields. Jack responded by tossing the thing into the air with her biotics. Miranda followed suit and also shot another one several times in the face with her Carnifex.

"These things might be the crawlers the dead Cerberus soldier mentioned in his journal…"

No sooner had those words left Miranda's lips did several more crawlers come out to replace the dead. Soon, the two biotic women where surrounded by a large number of the red creatures. Jack and Miranda exchanged a quick glance before firing outward with a massive biotic blast that knocked several of the crawlers back as they closed in. Miranda staggered, still having not recovered her full biotic strength and now feeling light-headed from pushing herself.

"Don't go pussy-footed on me now cheerleader" Jack said as she launched out another Warp. Miranda took out her Tempest, and unleashed a spray of bullets on the crawlers that Jack didn't hit. As Jack killed another with blasts from her Scimitar shotgun, Miranda shouted out to her: "Jack, singularity NOW!"

"That one ain't a part of my skill-set cheerleader…"

"DO IT!"

Jack scoffed but nevertheless obeyed. Attempting to focus herself, Jack trained her biotics on the largest grouping of the crawlers and forced her biotic field to trap them all the way she had seen some Asari do it. Her first attempt failed miserably and the crawlers closed in. Swearing under her breath, Jack tried again, and this time a field appeared around several of the Crawlers and began to swirl around them all before they were lifted into the air and sent swirling around and around as if caught in a whirlpool.

"I can't keep this up long cheerleader!"

"You don't need to. On my signal, run to the left!"

Jack nodded. Miranda unleashed one more spray of submachine gun fire at the crawlers nearest to her, her shields taking the brunt of their acid blasts, before turning to Jack, who struggled to maintain her singularity: "NOW!"

At this, Jack's singularity dissipated and she and Miranda took off for the underbrush to the left. The crawlers gave pursuit however, forcing Miranda to whip around and provide covering fire to keep them at bay as she and Jack continued to run through the jungle. The crawlers, tenacious as ever, pursued before a large clawed foot stomped down on one, flattening it and forcing the others to stay back. Looking up, Miranda and Jack could see a massive predator that rivaled the legendary Tyrannosaurus Rex from Earth's prehistoric era in size. Similar shape and appearance too, save for an elongated snout and some vicious looking saber-teeth. All in all not something Miranda had any desire to pick a fight with. And for once it seemed like neither did Jack.

The two took off as the large beast took to attacking and devouring the crawlers, who scampered off in all directions to avoid it. In the chaos it seemed that the large beast had not noticed Jack and Miranda fleeing in the opposite direction. After running what felt like miles, the two stopped to catch their breath.

"That was too damn close…your biotics working again cheerleader?"

Miranda nodded. "Yes, I believe so. Still not at full strength, but good enough to…"

"Hold it right there! We've got you surrounded!"

Jack and Miranda looked up and saw a Centurion-led squad of Cerberus Assault Troopers and Combat Engineers with guns trained on them.

"The commander's going to be pleased. We actually found them with no casualties. Guns on the ground and hands in the air now!"

Jack and Miranda turned to one another and smiled.

-X-

The last Cerberus Assault Trooper was felled by a shot to the chest from Garrus' Mantis as Shepard took out the Centurion leader with fire from his Geth Pulse Rifle. Once the last of the Cerberus forces had fallen, Shepard holstered his Geth Pulse Rifle and drew his Viper, using its scope in a desperate attempt to scan the area for Miranda. He knew it was futile, but Shepard wasn't one for just standing around doing nothing and hoping that everything would somehow turn out anyway. If he was then he wouldn't hate the Council the way he did.

_Come on Miranda. Stay alive. No way is some alien zoo and a few Cerberus troops going to keep you down…_

-X-

"I gotta admit cheerleader" Jack said as she observed the small graveyard she and Miranda had made out of the Cerberus squad, "we make a pretty kick-ass team."

Miranda shrugged. "I suppose we do. But I believe that your singularity could use some serious work if what I saw back against the crawlers was any indication"

Jack scoffed. "Yeah, like you could do better". Her tone was playful this time, rather than challenging as it would have been if it had been just a day ago.

"…_And _your Slam's gonna need a hell of a lot more punch to it"

"Jack, have you ever given thought to being a biotic teacher?" Miranda asked, noticing just how much Jack's words were sounding like a lecture, even if the tone was playful, which Miranda appreciated immensely.

Jack rolled her eyes. "Teacher? Yeah right."

As the two kept walking, their blissfully civil banter was cut short when they stumbled upon several Cerberus corpses not unlike the first one they had stumbled upon. And once again, there was a datapad with an entry:

_Acting Officer's Log Entry 12:_

_Another bad day. Jeremy got eaten by one of the large lizards with the saber-teeth, and I lost Harold and Peter to more Crawlers. The acid they spit ate right through their shields and armor like it was nothing. _

_As far as I'm concerned, nothing can possibly be worth all the men we've lost here, but the powers that be don't seem to share that view. In any event, I'm told that progress on whatever it is the science team is working on is slow but steady. _

_Wonder what it could be…rumor has it its something that will make up for all the losses we've suffered here but I have a hard time believing that anything those boys in the lab could possibly cook up is worth all of this. But then again maybe that's why I'm a soldier and not a scientist…_

Miranda dropped the datapad and she and Jack kept up their trek through the jungle. Eventually, as they pushed past another thick batch of foliage, the two biotic women saw what looked like fresh footprints. Moving in closer, Miranda recognized them as coming from armored boots, suggesting a Cerberus presence.

"Well cheerleader? Wanna follow the footprints and see if they lead us straight to the Cerberus base?"

Miranda thought about. They could do it, the only question was whether or not they _should. _After all, it was just the two of them assaulting what was likely to be a heavily fortified Cerberus base. On the other hand staying out in the jungle and waiting for Shepard to find them didn't exactly yield much promise either.

Finally, Miranda nodded. "Let's move"

And so the duo followed the footprint trail in the direction that they had come from, snaking through more trees, underbrush and the occasional skeleton of a Turian, Cerberus soldier or one of Invictus' many predators. Finally, they saw in the distance what Miranda and Jack both recognized as the Cerberus base, complete with sentry towers that Cerberus Nemeses were perched in and turrets set up by Combat Engineers.

_Looks like this was a bad idea after all…_

Miranda turned to Jack: "Neither of us has a sniper rifle but charging in while those Nemeses and Turrets are there would be suicidal. Do you think that your Pull is strong enough to take care of the Nemeses?" Miranda's mouth formed a slight smug smile. "I know _mine _is"

"Was that a challenge cheerleader? You're on. One who takes out more of those snipers wins"

Normally Miranda would consider such a competition to be juvenile, especially if it was with Jack, but she opted to humor the Convict anyway. Extending her hand, Miranda focused on the nearest Nemesis and encased her in a Pull. Lifting her up into the air, Miranda tossed her hard into the ground before she or any of her allies had any sense of what was going on. The Nemesis hit the floor with a sickening crunch that made Miranda wince slightly but never the less told her what she wanted to know.

Jack didn't seem to mind the brutality as much. With a wicked grin she levitated two Nemeses simultaneously and slammed them into one another repeatedly before dispelling the biotic fields around them and letting them drop to the ground.

By this point, the turrets, Combat Engineers, and remaining Nemesis were all shooting at them, and Miranda and Jack had to stay behind cover for a good long while as the bullets tore at the foliage and trees that they hid behind. Miranda silently motioned for Jack to use a shockwave and the Convict happily obliged, launching it directly at the cluster of turrets still guarding the bases' entrance. The attack damaged the turrets and knocked the Engineers that had set them up flat on their backs. Miranda then whipped out from behind cover and finished the turrets off with repeated usage of Overload. Unfortunately, the last Nemesis saw her and shot at her. Miranda saw the Nemesis in time to avoid being shot in the chest or throat as the Nemesis had intended, but the shot did hit her square in the shoulder. Miranda gasped in pain and fell to the ground as Jack used her biotics to toss the Nemesis high into the air.

Miranda gasped and ground her teeth as blood seeped out of her shoulder. Jack went over to her and applied what Medi-Gel she kept on her to Miranda's shoulder wound, healing it up.

"Thank you"

"Hey, you used up all of your Medi-Gel on me, figure its only fair…" Jack's display of compassion caught Miranda off-guard, but she never the less smiled at it. Jack returned it with a smug grin. "3 to 1. Looks like I win"

Miranda said nothing. Instead she just took out her Carnifex and put bullets in the heads of the three Combat Engineers one at a time while they were still recovering from Jack's shockwave, dropping all of them in the span of a few second and earning her victory in her and Jack in their little competition.

"I'm so sorry you were saying?" Miranda asked with a smug grin of her own. Privately she didn't care for things like body count competitions. While she had killed plenty of times, for Miranda she was simply doing what she felt in those situations needed to be done. Save a select few individuals who she had been very happy to put bullets into (Wilson and the Asari bitch who had murdered Niket came to mind) as well as a few instances that given her recent defection she was beginning to regret in hindsight, she never felt either pride or shame for her killings. But given how this seemed to be helping her working relationship with Jack, she decided to humor her.

With the bases' outside guards' most lethal defenses taken care of and the medi-gel having fixed up Miranda's shoulder pretty good, the former Cerberus Loyalist concluded that now was as good a time as any for her and Jack to assault the base directly, as the Cerberus Assault Troopers and two Centurions that remained were nothing that the two couldn't handle.

Taking aim at one such Centurion, Miranda dispelled his shields with Overload and then finished him with headshots via her Carnifex as Jack took to tearing the Assault Troopers apart with Shockwaves, Warps, and blasts from her Scimitar. It wasn't long before all of the Cerberus forces were dead.

Afterwards, Miranda checked the door and was pleased to see that it had the exact same layout as every other Cerberus installation she had ever seen. After by-passing the usual outer defenses however, Miranda came to an unexpected obstacle: a passcode.

_Likely Richard's doing. I __**had**__ taught him well…_

Now something Miranda had come to know was that any professional who ever used password related security _**never **_used things that could be easily guessed. Instead, they went with multiple encrypted codes, which were were usually about a dozen digits long, and particularly clever and insidious sorts would include non-English letters. Everything from Chinese to Asari to Russian to Drell could be included along with any amount of random numbers and English letters.

Fortunately, Miranda already knew this and had come prepared.

Miranda activated her omni-tool and used a very special appliance that out of the entire Normandy Crew only she possessed. It was a little "gift" the Illusive Man had given to her once upon a time that was basically a very sophisticated hacking tool. Because of how good it was, it was not widely produced and would be almost assuredly banned if it was, but the Illusive Man spared no expense for his best operatives.

The hacking device would essentially interface with the console and scan its history, and through that would rapidly go through digits until it found the right ones. Eventually, it did so again here, and the doors opened. Miranda turned to Jack: "I'd say ladies first but I think we both know that's not a label that suits you"

Jack laughed. "Hell no. I think "all-powerful bitch" works just fine"

Miranda chuckled. "I think I can live with that"

The two walked into the base with their guns drawn and did a sweep of the area as alarms blazed at their intrusion. The main room was spacious enough, but had only one hallway leading forward. Jack took point and Miranda followed right behind, the two of them so far unhindered by more Cerberus forces in spite of the alarms continuing to ring out throughout the complex. The next room was also quite spacious, and had an upper ledge that had rooms in back of it. But there also looked to be no way up, suggesting to Miranda that there was an alternate route to the second floor somewhere.

"Intruders? How the hell did they get in here? The door was protected by—" the middle-aged man in scientist garb that had come forward stopped mid-sentence as he saw just who the intruders in question were.

"Ah. Its _you_. I should have realized that only someone like you could have broken into the base Miss Lawson. And yes, I know who you are. Operative Richard mentioned you once or twice. He also warned me that you might be coming and told me not to underestimate you…"

As the scientist was saying this, several Nemeses lined the balcony on opposite sides of the scientist and took aim at Miranda and Jack with their Raptor sniper rifles.

"…honestly he gave you more credit then I do…"

Jack snorted. "Here's your opportunity to shut the fuck up and tell us where the Turians you're keeping here are before I redecorate this place with your body parts"

"You don't make demands of me mongrel. As it is, this all rather moot. I have specific orders from Operative Richard to take you two down by any means necess-"

Her threadbare patience snapping, Jack unleashed a Warp at the scientist's head. To Miranda's surprise, the scientist actually managed to duck in time, which was more than could be said of many of Jack's other victims.

"You hairless harpy! I'll see you slaughtered like an animal!" He turned to his Nemesis minions: "What the devil are you idiots waiting for? You have them in your sights yes? THEN SHOOT THEM!"

Miranda and Jack each launched a few Warps in the direction of the Nemeses as cover-fire as they rushed to find any kind of cover from the Nemeses sniper-fire. Fortunately, there were some crates in the far off-side that Jack and Miranda could both (albeit barely) fit behind. The Nemeses continued to fire, and Miranda and Jack both waited for the opportune moment before popping out from behind cover and using pull to yank the Nemeses out from behind cover and put bullets in their bodies. The Scientist panicked and retreated to the safety of the other rooms, leaving Miranda and Jack alone.

"Come on. We need to find an alternate route to the second floo-"

Miranda felt herself be pushed out of the way of a Warp by Jack that collided with the wall. Whipping around, Miranda saw Richard standing there, consumed in a biotic aura.

"Time to finish this once and for all Miranda"

**Author's Note: In case anyone is feeling like I'm overpowering Medi-Gel, I feel I have to stress that in near the beginning of ME 2, you apply Medi-Gel to Wilson, who had been shot in the leg. No sooner do you apply the Medi-Gel his leg is perfectly fine and he's walking again. If it can perfectly mend a gun-shot to the leg, than I think it can do the same to a shot to the shoulder.**

**Another thing: I have noticed that many Fan-Fic writers give Miranda bad history with the Alliance, namely her having killed several Alliance people and Alliance characters like Hannah Shepard and Ashley Williams hating her for it. But this actually doesn't make sense for one reason: Cerberus was a part of the Alliance for years and actually didn't break away until around the events of ME 1. So it seems unlikely to me than that Miranda's hands are covered in Alliance blood so to speak. Just saying.**

**And yes, Miranda's little hacking toy was totally inspired by Batman's Cryptographic Sequencer in Arkham City. I just love that game. And I completed the story mode very recently, so yeah. That and it just fit. Mirandas's a smart girl. I figured she could realistically bring something like that.**

**Hope my flashback moments don't feel too much like teases. I didn't want it to be a mass info dump.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Miranda's mind flashed back to her last ever meeting with Richard that didn't involve gun-shots and biotics.

_They had worked together for a while, doing missions together. They took on everything from Batarian Terrorists to Eclipse and Blue Suns goons to Krogan mercenaries. Nobody that Miranda for one would miss. And she and Richard had a nack for getting the job done in style._

_However it wasn't long before Miranda caught on to just how attracted to her Richard had become. The poor fool had those puppy-dog eyes that would melt a woman's heart, and would have hers if she had been younger. But alas too much had happened to her by then. She had grown cold, and at that point not even he could break the ice completely._

_But that didn't mean that they couldn't be friends. Miranda was fine with that, and actually rather liked the idea of having someone other than Niket who she could call a friend. Someone else she could trust…_

_But alas even that was not to be._

_Miranda wasn't the only one who had caught onto Richard's feelings for her. The ever-observant Illusive Man had as well. He had told Miranda to use Richard's feelings for her as a means of controlling him. Lead him along on the false belief that she reciprocated his feelings. Miranda had been appalled at the suggestion but had not had the strength to admit it. Not to the Illusive Man. She was completely under his thumb back then, and she had also been too damned blind to realize it._

"_Make him feel wanted and needed" she had remembered him telling her. "Make him feel like he's more to you than just a valuable asset"_

"_And…what if he tries to take things too far? I won't be able to keep up the illusion forever. I like him but I don't love him"_

"_I leave that up to your judgment Miranda. I think you're smart enough to think of something"_

_It was his way of copping out and she knew it. But once again she bit her tongue and nodded._

_And so Miranda followed the Illusive Man's orders as always. She didn't make any moves on Richard. She didn't need to. He just continued to wear his heart on his sleeve and make it painfully clear without even realizing it just how much he cared about her, loved her even. And she just acted oblivious to his attraction, but also giving just enough hints that she cared about him too. Really it wasn't a lie. She **did** care about him, but as a friend, or maybe a little brother. But definitely not as a lover._

_And for a while, longer than Miranda had predicted, the illusion was maintained rather well. Richard drew closer and closer to her. She could see him slowly but steadily pour his heart out to her, trust her with his entire being. And she knew that she didn't deserve it. It had killed her to do that to him. To put him in that position. _

_She still remembered the day when it had all gone to hell, as hard as she had tried to forget it:_

"_That was some firefight against the Blue Suns huh Miri?" Richard had asked cheerfully._

"_Yes, yes I suppose it was…honestly I'm rather impressed we did as well as we did…"_

"_Hey come on. Its us. We're invincible together Miri. Always remember that"_

_Miranda chuckled. "Nobody's invincible Richard"_

"_What about the Illusive Man?"_

"_Not even him, and don't you dare tell anyone I said that"_

_Richard smiled. "Wouldn't dream of it…" The two of them had gone back to staring at the Illium sunset. Truly a picturesque sight and one Miranda had seen and enjoyed a dozen times, with and without Richard's company. In hindsight she should have seen what happened next coming from a mile away, but she never did…_

"_Hey Miri…can I ask you something?"_

"_It depends"_

"_About…I don't know, relationships?"_

_Miranda had raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"_

"_Yeah, you know, relationships. Like being together with someone…"_

_Miranda resolutely shook her head. "No, I do not. I have never had that kind of experience I confess…"_

"_Oh…"_

_The two had fallen silent again. _

"_Miranda…can I tell you something?"_

"_What is it Richard?"_

"_I…" Here it was. This was the part where he was going to admit his feelings. Really it was a perfect setting. A part of her couldn't blame him. The rest of her utterly despised herself for having lead him along like this. More than anything else she had done when with Cerberus this was the one thing she had come to regret. How could she have done this to a friend?_

"_Miranda…I…I think I love you"_

"_I know"_

_He looked up at her. "You do?"_

_She made a faint smile. "You wear your heart on your sleeve Richard. I've known longer than you have"_

_He chuckled. "Yeah…that makes sense…"_

_He had moved in closer to her, and Miranda had chosen not to resist when he made his move. Their lips touched and her eyes closed._

_But as quickly as it came, he pulled away._

"_I…I'm sorry Miri. Just lost myself for a moment"_

_It was an outright lie and they both knew it. But Miranda chose not to press the issue. Instead she told him: "Don't be"_

_She had to keep it up. So she moved in for another kiss. And this one was longer and more passionate than the last one…_

Back in the present, Richard stared Miranda and Jack down intensely, and the two biotics readied themselves for a fight against him. Miranda could see from the look on Jack's face that she was as determined as ever but that was a confidence that Miranda only wished that she shared. And it wasn't because Richard was better than her or Jack. No, it was because he brought back far too many painful memories for her. She found herself doubting whether or not she had it in her to take him on.

Good thing she had finally made nice with Jack then.

Without warning, Richard used his biotics to conjure up a pair of whips, a tactic employed by other Cerberus biotics, and launched them at Miranda and Jack. Both rolled to the side and retaliated with Warp attacks. Richard dodged or weathered the biotic blasts and continued to strike with his biotic whips, cracking them this way and that with ruthless precision and absolute fury.

Jack lifted Richard into the air with her biotics and slammed him back into the ground hard. Richard forced himself up only for Jack to send him slamming into the wall with a shockwave.

"Go do what you gotta do cheerleader. I'll hold this fucker off"

Miranda was reluctant to do so for only a moment before nodding and taking off to find a path to the second level of the base and hopefully locate the prisoners they had all come for in the first place…

-X-

For all her predilection towards violence in all of its forms, Jack hadn't actually squared off against fellow biotics on too many separate occasions. Usually whenever she did it was some Asari punk who's one to two hundred years of life hadn't given them the common sense of a human 12-year old. But that was about it. Never to her memory had she squared off against a biotic from the hated Cerberus, and certainly not one who could pull down trees and conjure biotic whips.

_This outta be fun… _Jack mused.

Richard made an unamused expression. "Its not you I'm after Subject Zero, and yes I know who you are."

"Well too fucking bad"

Richard said nothing further before lashing out with his biotic whips again. Jack rolled backwards to avoid their reach but failed, as the tip of one still managed to land on her shoulder, delivering a stinging blow. Jack swore loudly and fired a shockwave in retaliation. Richard stood his ground and dispelled the attack with his biotics, an action that caused his whips to disperse. Seizing her chance, Jack drew her Carnifex and fired for Richard's head. He moved out of the way and fired out a Warp. The blast knocked Jack back, and she had to roll again to avoid Richard's re-summoned biotic whips.

Deciding to try something different, Jack used her biotics to pick up one of the dead Nemeses and hurl the body at Richard. Once again, his taking the time to use his own biotics to deflect the attack forced himself to dispel his whips, and that gave Jack time to attack. She fired both Warps and shotgun blasts in an effort to dispel his biotic barrier. Richard's barrier managed to hold together though, and he retaliated once more with attacks from his whips, launching strike after strike that Jack only barely managed to avoid and in some cases not at all. One particularly nasty strike to the leg nearly downed her right then and there.

_God-damn those stupid fucking whips…_

Jack used her biotics to hurl whatever else was in the room at Richard, but he merely used his whips to swat it all away. It did very little to slow him down.

"I expected more out of you Subject Zero"

Jack, her extremely short temper pushed past its limits, resorted to a biotic charge (a technique she had almost never used before) and slammed right into Richard, shattering what was left of his barriers as he did so.

"**MY NAME IS JACK!"**

Richard was left recoiling from Jack's attack, and the Convict took that as her chance to fire a close-range blast with her shotgun at him. Amazingly, Richard's armor held, but only just.

"Get off me you feral bitch!" Richard screamed as he used his biotics to slap Jack off of him, sending her flying across the room. Richard staggered to his feet, now trailing blood from his near-death at Jack's hands.

"Had enough Cerberus fucker?"

"Of you yes. But as I said you're not the one I'm after. And in any event, you'll be a bit too busy with a new playmate to worry about me…"

At this, a lithe armored figure rushed through the rooms the scientist had previously fled through and leaped over the walkway in an impressive display of acrobatics and agility. The figure landed with grace and then rose, allowing Jack to take in the figure's appearance. She (and in spite of the helmet covering her full face was undoubtedly a woman) wore armor that Jack had never seen on any other Cerberus trooper before, so she assumed it was just a kind she had never seen before. She had a scabbard of all things on her back from which she pulled out a sword…which then came apart into a pair of blades that the Cerberus woman held in a reverse grip.

As she entered a battle-ready stance with the two blades, Richard said to her quite simply: "Vivisect this animal"

The woman let out a faint growl and then lunged at Jack, who instinctively fired out a biotic blast. The woman managed to do a biotic-assisted evade, and then did a biotic-zip towards where Jack was. Jack managed to duck as the woman swung one of her two swords in an attempt to decapitate the Convict. Jack fired out with a biotic blast that knocked the woman back but she immediately leaped back up to her feet and zipped forward towards Jack with the aid of biotics once again. And before Jack could fully move out of the way, one of the woman's swords thrusted forward and left a cut on Jack's upper arm.

"Fuck!"

The woman swung out with her other sword but Jack was ready for this one. She blasted out with a Warp, hitting the woman, and nearly dispelling her biotic barriers. Undeterred, the woman lunged for another attack and Jack blasted at her with her shotgun. That prompted the woman to keep her distance.

For a moment, she just stood there, staring Jack down from behind from her helmet. And Jack did the same to her.

"I gotta say: you're one tough Cerberus bitch. I know one just like you"

The woman said nothing in response, and instead just charged Jack, who punished it with a biotic attack that sent her hurtling across the room. The woman slammed into the floor, dislodging her helmet. She jammed one of her twin swords into the ground to force herself up and then used that hand to remove her helmet. And then Jack got to see her face. It was all too familiar, with the same eyes, nose, jaw, mouth, the same _face_…as her.

It was her face.

She was staring at a reflection of herself. And her copy stared back.

"I will destroy you"

**Author's Note: Figured I'd try something different here. Put the focus more on Jack. After all, this fan-fic **_**is **_**supposed to be about their improving relationship, so its only fair that the psychotic biotic get **_**some **_**of the spotlight. Nice cliffhanger there huh?**

**And yes, Richard's biotic whips are based off of the Cerberus Defectors from the Rebellion Pack and also the Cerberus Dragoons. Its just too awesome to not use in at least one fic.**


	8. Interlude: Problematic

Interlude: Problematic

**Author's Note: Addressing something that a reviewer pointed out, I'm taking a brief break from our two heroines to focus on two other characters. Note that this is not taking place at the same time as last chapter but rather around the time of Chapters 4 and 5.**

Jacob didn't know about Mordin, but he for one had been to his share of strange places during his time as both a corsair and a Cerberus operative. He had seen worlds that looked like they were straight out of a 1970s Sci-Fi movie, and been beset by his share of grief. On that level, Invictus was nothing new to him.

But at the same time, this also made his current predicament no less enjoyable.

Cerberus Assault Troopers were currently shooting at him and Mordin, who had taken cover behind the dense underbrush of the jungle they were stuck in. It had been almost 20 minutes since Jack had fallen out of the Kodiak and Jacob had been forced to set it down when the large flying creature attacking them began to tear at the ship. No sooner had Jacob and Mordin lost it though had they run afoul of a Cerberus patrol. And now they were in a firefight with them.

Jacob for his part, had no real problem doing battle with Cerberus troops. He was no longer affiliated with the organization, and in all honesty, he wasn't too sorry about that. He had never liked them, and only worked with them because Miranda had convinced him that they were a better alternative to the brain-dead Citadel Council and the eternally bound by red tape Alliance. But he had never liked them. So now that he had jumped ship with the rest of the Normandy's crew, he saw no good reason to have reservations about fighting Cerberus thugs.

Another shot from his Carnifex dropped another Assault Trooper. Jacob ducked from behind cover only to dodge the retaliatory fire from the other Assault Troopers before then popping right back out and using his signature Pull ability to lift a pair of Assault Troopers in the air, leaving them easy prey for Mordin.

No sooner did those two fall did the good doctor launch out some Cryo blasts to freeze Assault Troopers, whom Jacob then took potshots at. Between the two of them, the patrol didn't last long. Mordin almost seemed to Jacob to be beaming with pride at his victory.

"Thought harmless did you?" he asked the dead Cerberus troopers with a grin.

"I gotta say Mordin. I still never can get over how dangerous you are for a doctor"

"As stated once before: lots of ways to help people. Sometimes heal patients, sometimes execute dangerous people like Cerberus. Either way helps" he finished his sentence in a pleasant tone as if the topic of conversation was decidedly more innocent in nature.

"Yeah, but you're really good at the second part of that. And from what I've seen you seem better at it then the first part…"

"Spent time as member of the Salarian Special Task Group" Mordin said matter-of-factly. "Picked up some…useful skills during time there"

"Evidently"

Jacob and Mordin then continued their trek through the jungle, Jacob attempting to radio Shepard as they did: "Commander, commander can you hear me? Its Jacob. I repeat, can you hear me?"

"This is Shepard, I hear you Jacob. Where are you? We never did get that extraction"

"I know and I'm sorry Commander. There were…complications"

"I'm not sure I want to know. Can you tell me where you are now?"

"Uh…well, it appears to be near a mess of trees. And I think there are some plants too"

"I didn't take you for having a sarcastic sense of humor Jacob. Ah well. Stay put. Garrus and I will come to you"

"You and Garrus? What about Miranda?"

"She got separated from us"

"Same with my team. We lost Jack"

"Well lets hope for their sakes they don't run into each-other. Don't worry Jacob, they can take care of themselves. In the meantime, send out a signal and Garrus and I will follow it to your position"

"That will alert the Cerberus Cell to our presence"

"Garrus and I have already killed our share of Cerberus soldiers. I don't think they're anything you can't handle."

"Alright Commander. But hurry up. Mordin and I are pretty exposed out here"

And with that, communications went silent for the time being and Jacob and Mordin looked for a defensible position amidst the mess of trees and plants surrounding them. Taking cover behind a particularly large tree, Jacob sent out a signal that Shepard and Garrus could track and hoped that they could get to them before Cerberus did. Jacob was good, and he knew by now that Mordin was too, but the two of them would only be able to hold out against Cerberus forces for so long.

Three or four minutes passed with neither Shepard or Cerberus showing up. Then Jacob's ears picked up the faint sound of footsteps, and he could hear enough to know that it was way more then two people heading his way. That told him that Cerberus had shown up first.

But then his ears picked up a second sound. A loud thumping that was getting progressively louder along with the footsteps. For a split second, Jacob thought it might be a native predator coming from an opposite direction before he realized what it really was.

"GET DOWN!"

Jacob surged forward and pushed himself and Mordin to the ground just as a rocket sailed through the air and collided right with the tree they had been using for cover. Amidst the flames and shower of splinters caused by the rocket, Jacob could see what he recognized as an Atlas Mech accompanied by a small group of Cerberus Assault Troopers.

"Damn. They sent in the big guns"

Jacob turned to Mordin: "We need to take out that thing's shields and then shoot the pilot or we ain't gonna last long. Can you overload the shields?"

Mordin gave a simple wordless nod in response. "Then do it"

Mordin rolled and unleashed overload on the Atlas Mech's shields until they dispelled, which got its attention and caused it to turn around and start shooting at Mordin from behind his new cover. Knowing that the good doctor wouldn't last long under such an assault, Jacob inserted Incendiary Ammo into his Carnifex and fired as many shots as he could into the Atlas Mech's back. That seemed to get it focused back on him, but this also unfortunately prompted it to launch a rocket at him.

"Ah hell…"

Instinct mixed with a very fierce desire not to die kicking in, Jacob turned around and practically leaped into the air before landing and rolling to avoid being blown away by the rocket. The blast radius of the explosion still knocked him back a ways, but he was still standing and nothing was broken…and then the Atlas Mech's gunfire began to tear through his shields.

_No Taylor, don't let it end like this…_

Deciding he had little left to lose, Jacob whipped around, and aimed Pull at where approximately the Atlas Mech's driver would be. Suddenly, the Atlas Mech stopped firing. Daring to open his eyes, Jacob could see that he had successfully levitated the Atlas Mech's driver and he was now floating helplessly in the air.

Wasting no time, Jacob shot an Assault Trooper who was climbing into the Atlas Mech to re-take control of it. The bullet hit him square in the side of the head, punching through his helmet and killing him instantly. Privately Jacob was somewhat surprised he had a head left. In his experience, headshots didn't usually leave much of what they hit intact.

Jacob continued to fire at the Assault Troopers, determined to ensure that none of them got into the Atlas Mech to ruin his day any further. Still behind some cover, Mordin regularly launched out Cryo and Incinerate blasts at the Assault Troopers, weakening them and making them easy pickings for Jacob. Soon only the Centurion remained. He too tried to get into the Atlas Mech only for Mordin to overload his shields as he was climbing in, an act that caused him to lose his grip and fall flat on his back. Forcing himself back up, the Centurion shot at Mordin but his Mattock's bullet hit only a tree. Cursing, he turned around to face Jacob…

…And a shot went through one side of his head and out the other.

As the Centurion collapsed dead, Jacob turned to see Shepard run up and knew that that meant that Garrus wasn't far behind. It didn't take any brain-work on Jacob's part to guess that he had shot the Centurion.

"Jacob, good to see you."

"Like wise commander. Was afraid you wouldn't make it in time"

Shepard cast a brief glance over to all the dead Cerberus forces. "All things considered I'd say you didn't do that bad a job." Shepard turned his gaze to the Atlas Mech. "And you got us a new toy"

And then without further warning, Shepard clambered into the Atlas Mech's now empty canopy and took to the controls. After a few awkward moments of trying to figure out what controls did what, Shepard had the Atlas Mech moving forward. As he directed it further into the jungle he called out to Jacob, Garrus, and Mordin: "Come on. We've got two teammates to find, prisoners to free, and a Cerberus Cell to turn into rubble. And the suns' already starting to go down."

Shepard's Atlas Mech attracted the attention of a trio of the "Dino-Apes" he, Garrus, and Miranda had fought earlier. The second they tried to challenge him though, he fired a rocket right at their feet, which sent them packing at breakneck speed.

"Follow my lead. I'm pretty sure I can handle whatever Cerberus and Invictus throw at me now"

**Author's Note: As I have already stated elsewhere, Mordin Solus is my favorite party member by far. Easily. As for Jacob, I don't love him, and I definitely think that his romance is bad (namely it feels forced compared to the other romances), I don't hate him. I think he's a cool dude and do I agree with him a good percent of the time. He's just not a favorite. But I'd say he got a fairly solid showing here.**


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Miranda raced through the halls of the Cerberus Cell as her blue-gray eyes looked around for anything that could point her in the direction of the Turian prisoners. Not, of course, that she was expecting big glowing green arrows or something else out of a video game. Just _something_, be it logs that mentioned the prisoners, someone to interrogate…

Then she remembered the scientist. Miranda had no chance of finding him now, but there were no doubt others located throughout the complex. She just needed to find one and get him to talk.

Miranda's attention came back to the here and now when a pair of Cerberus Assault Troopers came her way. Shots to the head dropped them in short order. Miranda continued past them until out of the corner of her eye she spied a room with a man in the uniform of a Cerberus scientist in it. It seemed that he and the Combat Engineer and Assault Trooper in the room with him had yet to notice her. And best of all, the windows were glass.

_Idiots._

Miranda took aim with her Carnifex and fired it through the glass at the head of the Assault Trooper. After dropping him, Miranda dispelled the Engineer's shields with Overload and hurled a Warp at him to bring him down. Before the now absolutely terrified scientist could so much as raise the alarm, Miranda was in the room with him with her pistol trained to his head.

"You have Turian prisoners here. Tell me where they are and please don't lie to me. It will be very hazardous to your health"

"There…there…there being held in cells down below. You can't access it from the front entrance, only through this top floor via a lift. But you need a password to open the doors to the area…"

"And I don't' suppose you could tell me what that password is?" Miranda asked. Her tone was fairly evened, but the fact that she still had her gun to the man's head told him what would happen if he said no.

"I…I don't remember it"

Miranda's face took on a scowl of contempt. "Then you deserve to get hacked" she said bluntly.

And with that, Miranda pistol-whipped the man into unconsciousness. As his body hit the floor, Miranda noticed a terminal in the room and, curious, walked over to it. She saw that there were a few logs recorded on it. Curiosity and a desire to learn more about what exactly the cell was doing getting the better of her, Miranda accessed the first log. A holographic image of the man Miranda recognized as the snooty scientist from before appeared:

_Cadmus Cell Head Cloning Scientist Log Entry 35: Another complete failure. The contents of the last tank we drained were so badly decomposed they didn't look like anything anymore. I have since taken to eating meals __**after **__my work for the day is done. Decomposition is always the hardest part to get past in more ways then one. There is a reason why cloning of sapient beings is not widely performed, even out here in the Terminus Systems, as aside from being very illegal with severe penalties its difficult to pull off successfully and the long-term risks associated are always enormous. But the Illusive Man doesn't broker failure. So I'll get this done._

Miranda scowled as the scientist said that last bit, being an almost word-for-word re-utterance of what doctor Gavin Archer had said at Aite. Recalling what she had seen there still made Miranda feel sick, and more then a little resentful of herself and her incredibly poor judgment concerning Cerberus. But she quickly brushed it aside and played the second log:

_Cadmus Cell Head Cloning Scientist Log Entry 42: Progress with the Turian clones is progressing at a fairly steady pace, but still no true success with Project "Phantom". While the clones bodies are actually starting to form now, they still don't last long without decomposing again due to an excess of Element Zero in them that simply isn't compatible with the cloning process. Needless to say, this represents the single most difficult part of the process, and one that I have yet to work my way past. As an expert in cloning, I know full well that it is not an exact science, but this is ridiculous. I have __**never **__been on a cloning project this challenging before. All of that damn Eezo in the original subject's DNA structure seems to have made it near impossible to copy…_

Now knowing exactly what the cell was doing and her curiosity aroused by the mention of what was obviously cloning biotics, Miranda played the last entry:

_Cadmus Cell Head Cloning Scientist Log Entry 50: Progress on the Turian Clones, now code-named "Legionnaires" has gone at roughly the speed expected, and we now have the first relatively stable clones with which to outfit with weapons and armor. Once that is done and they are properly trained, they will make for excellent shock troopers to further Cerberus' cause. As for Project "Phantom", we now finally seem to have a clone who is showing remarkable progress and potential now that I found a way to keep the ridiculously large amounts of Element Zero in the DNA from tearing the body apart. But unfortunately we are still left with dozens upon dozens of abject failures from both projects. The horrible shrieking noises the faulty Turian clones make and the disgusting decomposed husks of failed attempts at cloning will be keeping me up for many a night after this project is finally completed._

As the last entry ended, Miranda was left to ponder it and the previous two entries' contents. So the subjects of "Project Phantom", whatever that was meant to be, were clones of an extremely powerful biotic whose large amounts of eezo were tearing the clones' bodies apart. It made perfect sense when Miranda thought about it. Without amps or any other kind of precaution, a person's biotic potential if exploited could very easily tear its user apart before it did its intended target or targets. The muscles would simply not be able to take the strain of so many mini-Mass Effect fields going off in them without something to contain it. And if the original subject was who Miranda very strongly suspected it to be, it was a small wonder that the early clones, without the protection of amps to control all of the nodules, would be torn apart by their own stolen biotic power.

Miranda privately confessed to being genuinely intrigued and interested by this new information. Perhaps that didn't speak well of her character but as obviously ethically dubious as this was (something she would have been less likely to admit if she had learned of all of this but a short while ago), there was a fascinating bent to it all. Miranda knew only the absolute basic information about cloning. As its usage on sapient life had been outlawed by all of said sapient life for almost as long as it had existed and even Cerberus never really indulged in it, she saw no solid reason to invest time and energy into learning about it unless ordered. Now that it was being dropped into her lap though…

Miranda brushed it aside. She had more important things to think and worry about. Her eyes scanned the room, looking for anything else of use or interest. She found nothing else that was either, so she left the room, and continued to wander around the complex. Finally, she came to a locked door, which required a pass-code. Deciding to put her special hacking device to use once more, Miranda used it to crack the code and the door opened in short order, catching the Combat Engineer and the two Assault Troopers inside off-guard.

"Beg your pardon forgot to knock"

Miranda put a bullet into the Combat Engineer's head at point-blank range that dropped him instantly and then took cover from the Assault Troopers' retaliatory fire from their Hornet SMGs, switching to her own Tempest SMG as she did. A mix of Warps and fire from her Tempest made short work of them, and then she was alone with the scientist inside.

"The code to get to the Turians' cells. Now"

"What? Oh, uh, yes, right, right. Let's see…uh…ah! Now I remember…I kept it written down somewhere…" The scientist went for the nearby table. Miranda kept her Tempest trained on him and to her mild surprise he didn't try anything stupid. Rather, he grabbed a datapad hidden behind a bunch of clutter and handed it to Miranda. Her eyes scanned it and saw it to have a code written on it.

"If this isn't genuine I'm coming back here for you" Miranda said in a tone that was not threatening but also didn't need to be. Her quick and ruthlessly efficient killing of three men who would have been considered subordinates only weeks ago told the scientist she meant what she said.

Miranda walked out of the room and went in the only direction she had not yet explored. She opened the door, and was unsurprised to find resistance on the other side.

Immediately hitting the Combat Engineer's turrets (and their armor's protective shields) with Overloard, Miranda ducked behind cover as the half-dozen Cerberus goons within unleashed a hailstorm of fire from Mattock Assault Rifles and Hornet and Tempest SMGs. What followed wasn't the best thought out plan Miranda had ever conceived in her life but she was on her own, just a little tired from near constant fighting and expending of her biotics, and coming very close to operating solely on instinct. Where she not who she was, the next few moments would have ended with her dead in a pool of her own blood. But as she was who she was…

No sooner had her Overload capability recharged did Miranda fire out a blind Warp to keep the Cerberus forces on their toes. She then used Overload to dispel the shields of the Centurion squad-leader, an act that also stunned and immobilized him long enough to put a bullet from her Carnifex into his head.

With their leader down, the squad already started to lose cohesion. Mercilessly exploiting this, Miranda picked off the hapless Assault Troopers one by one, constantly retreating back from behind cover before they could retaliate successfully, until only the now absolutely terrified Combat Engineers and their annoying turrets remained.

Miranda thought about it. She had been lucky not to have been fatally shot up to this point, especially considering how she lacked a sniper rifle or any kind of heavy weapon, but wading in alone against an enemy force that included two turrets was definitely pushing it. If Shepard or hell, if anyone else had been with her, she would have considered taking the risk, but as it stood, she was content to not get gunned down. No, a better approach was required…

Miranda's vision wasn't great from her position of cover, but nevertheless, she looked around for anything that might give her an edge. Finally, her eyes came upon some containers. She could try distracting the Engineers with some shots to them, especially considering how panicked they had become, and then take out their turrets while they were reeling. Then move in and finish them off. Again, not her best plan, but at the very least, it was worth a shot.

_I hope Jack shows up soon though. I can't take this whole cell out on my own…_

-X-

Jack's shock, horror, bewilderment, and incredulousness all faded away the moment her doppelganger came at her again with those dual swords of hers. Moving out of the way, Jack fired a Warp right into her clone's face, desperate to erase it. There was only one Jack, and she wanted it to stay that way.

The doppelganger expertly avoided the Warp and made a thrust with one of her swords. Jack fired another Warp at the sword, and grinned triumphantly as the Warp disintegrated the blade. Tossing the hilt aside, the doppelganger continued her attacks with slashes and thrusts from her other sword, along with the occasional Warp or Throw. Jack rolled and side-stepped to avoid every attack, and finally knocked the doppelganger back with a shockwave.

"Come on Cerberus bitch! Kill me! You don't have what it takes!"

The doppelganger rolled with the shockwave, recovering in mid-air with acrobatic spins and landing with grace. Rising again, she aimed her free hand at Jack. Without warning, energy built up around the hand and a blast not unlike Warp but different in color and shape shot out at Jack. The Convict barely saw it coming in time to roll out of the way, prompting the doppelganger to fire a few more of the hand blasts in response.

Jack fired another shockwave at her mirror image. When that didn't work, she used Slam to levitate the doppelganger into the air and then send her crashing into the floor again and again.

"You ain't me!" Jack roared as she slammed her doppelganger into the steel floor again. "YOU'RE NOTHING LIKE ME!"

The doppelganger staggered to her feet, and glared at Jack with blood from a now shattered nose smeared across her face and murder in her eyes.

"No. I am your superior. Improved. You have been deemed obsolete. You are inefficient for Cerberus' purposes. You are crude, impulsive, and soon, deceased"

For Jack, seeing someone with her face use such exceedingly formal language caught her off guard for a moment before her face went back to its usual sneer and her biotics flared up again, ready and eager to tear her clone apart limb from limb.

_And then I'm gotta have a lot of fun with the sick Cerberus fucker who made this bitch. A __**LOT **__of fun…_

And with this, the two biotics went at each-other once more.

-X-

Miranda gasped and panted as she stood triumphant over the dead Cerberus squad, but now unfortunately with a bleeding leg from a shot that had grazed her side. Fortunately, medi-gel wasn't hard to find, and after limping over to a storage unit of the stuff, Miranda applied some to her leg.

Now all that remained was to take the lift in front of her down to where the Turians were being held. The doors opened without resistance, and Miranda took it down. It wasn't a long ride. Upon exiting, she was greeted to another Assault Trooper who quickly drew his electric stun stick and attempted to stab it into Miranda. He got a fierce kick to the head for his troubles followed by a Warp that finished him off. The noise attracted the attention of two more Assault Troopers who didn't last much longer.

Moving further, Miranda came to a door that demanded a pass-code. Now was the moment of truth. Having kept the code in her memory up to this point, Miranda put it in, and to her pleasant surprise, the door actually opened.

Making her way in, Miranda was greeted to a massive room with rows upon rows of vats containing Turian clones, some of them only half-grown, and others so badly decomposed they hardly looked like Turians at all, or really anything else for that matter. Making her way through the cloning chamber, Miranda's eyes came upon another terminal. Accessing it, she saw that it had the same recorded logs as the last one she had accessed, along with a few others. Curiosity again taking over, she accessed the first of the newer ones:

_Cadmus Cell Head Cloning Scientist Log Entry 51. There is no doubt. This is the one. Stable where the others decompose, perfectly in control where the others are not. I am so relieved. It seems that at long last all of the labor I have done on Project Phantom will bear fruit. The one drawback is that the only way to keep the Element Zero from destroying the body was to eliminate several of the nodules before they could cause irreversible damage. Needless to say, this will inevitably result in a decrease in Biotic power and capability, but I believe that with the right training and implants this clone can still become a powerful biotic in her own right. I can only hope that the Illusive Man will agree._

_Cadmus Cell Head Cloning Scientist Log Entry 52. With my most recent report sent, the armor and weapons for the first successful subject of Project Phantom will be sent shortly. I am so anxious I can barely contain myself. All of this hard work seems about ready to pay off…_

_Cadmus Cell Head Cloning Scientist Log Entry 62. Absolutely staggering progress. No extreme or irreversible decomposition has been detected in the clone, in fact, there has been almost no decomposition period. The weapons training has also been progressing well. Per the request of the clone's "combat instructor", the clone has also been outfitted with a pair of swords. Honestly I fail to see the point of using something so primitive in this day and age, but Operative Leng was quite insistent, and given his reputation it would be very unwise to refuse him._

_Cadmus Head Cloning Scientist Log Entry 65. Operatives Leng and Richard have both been observing and aiding in the clone's training progress. Both have given favorable reviews, which is saying a great deal, though both remain disappointed that I was unable to preserve the original subject's unnaturally high biotic potential. But I'm afraid that it is a sacrifice that had to be made._

And that was the last log entry. Afterwards, Miranda looked around for a way out of the room, and eventually found two doors leading out. Trying the one on the left first, Miranda found it to be locked. Choosing to once again put in the pass-code the scientist had given her, she found that it worked on this door as well as the one to the room she was in now.

_Sloppy._

Upon entering, Miranda caught the attention of the Turians locked up in cells. Deciding not to mince words, Miranda said bluntly as she went over to them: "Get up. I'm here to rescue you"

"Right…" one of the Turians said with a sarcastic tone, his eyes falling upon Miranda's Cerberus logo. "…and I once saw the inside of a black hole. Seriously Cerberus slut, what are you trying to pull here?"

Miranda scoffed. "I'm not with Cerberus anymore, despite what the logo suggests. Please, use your head. If Cerberus wanted to kill you all, don't you think they'd just send men in here to shoot you? Or just gas your cells?"

"She's right" another Turian said. "It doesn't make sense for them to be this overly deceptive"

The other Turian scoffed in disbelief. "Forgive me if I still don't believe you" he said, his voice dripping with equal parts sarcasm, hostility, and rudeness. Miranda didn't care. After spending so much time among Jack she had grown used to it, and honestly the Turians' position wasn't all that hard to sympathize with.

Deciding to prove herself, Miranda effortlessly unlocked all of the Turian's cell doors with her omni-tool. All of them just stared at her in wordless shock. Miranda placed a hand on her hip and stared them all down.

"Your choice. You can stay in there and wait until Cerberus really does execute you all, and trust me, they will, or you can take your chances with me. The former is certain death. With me well…I might just be telling the truth"

The Turians said nothing for a moment or two before one of them said to the distrustful one: "She's really got a point Verash. I don't see the point just staying here waiting around for a firing squad to bullets in our heads"

"Don't be so damned naïve Drin. Look at her uniform! It's a _Cerberus_ uniform!"

"I know it seems ridiculous Verash" another Turian said, "…but I'm kind of in agreement with Drin on this one. I'm taking my chances."

"Me too"

"Me as well"

In mere moments, nearly all of the Turians had stood up and walked over to Miranda. It wasn't long after that "Verash" and the others followed suit. Miranda nodded in approval.

"Excellent. Good to see that you all have common sense. Now stay close to me. Do any of you have training?"

"Lady, we're all trained soldiers through and through. Don't know what the hell Cerberus ever wanted with us but—"

"They're cloning Turians here. Along with a very powerful and very dangerous biotic"

"…Well, then that explains why they took blood samples from us every few days. Crazy bastards. There's a reason cloning is illegal even in the worst parts of the Terminus Systems. Its damned dangerous…"

"Cerberus will and has done whatever they believe is necessary to get the job done" Miranda said with just touch of bitterness, the thing she once admired about them having since devolved into disgust and disillusionment.

"Speaking from experience are you?" One Turian asked with an accusing tone.

Miranda ignored him and said instead: "There are weapons you can take from Assault Troopers I shot in the room with the clones still in vats. There aren't enough for all of you though, so some of you will have to take cover behind your fellows"

Miranda led them all back into the main room. Some of the Turians, including the ones Miranda recognized by appearance as "Verash" and "Drin" grabbed the Hornets of the dead Assault Troopers. As they did, Verash looked at the Turian clones floating in the vats with total disgust.

"Look at them. Mockeries of our own damned DNA. I won't stand for it!" Verash aimed his stolen Hornet at the vats and pumped several of them full of bullets from the SMG, destroying the vats and the clones within, and sending broken glass and liquid flying in all directions.

"What the hell are you doing?" Miranda demanded.

"What any sane person would do in response to this" Verash said simply.

"You're an idiot" Miranda said bluntly. "All of you've done is alert them to our—"

A shot tore through the air and hit Drin square in the head, felling him instantly.

"DRIN!"

More shots rang out, cutting down two more of the Turians, and prompting Miranda, Verash (now the only armed Turian still standing), and the unarmed Turian prisoners to backpedal as their assailant came into full view.

They were more Turians, but clad in armor with a color scheme that was distinctly Cerberus, complete with the standard full-head covering Turian helmet in white and the Cerberus logo emblazoned on the side.

"How dare they put Turians in Cerberus armor!" one Turian shouted out in disdain.

"Agreed" Verash said darkly. "Let's kill them all"

Miranda would have facepalmed herself were it not for the fact that several of the Cerberus Turian clones, "Legionnaires' if Miranda remembered correctly, had Mattocks trained on them with only she and a particularly thick-headed Turian with no armor to stand against them.

_As far as missions go, this is one of the **worst** I've been a part of_

**Author's Note: Comparisons between this and Force Unleashed II will likely be coming in. Ah well.**

**You know, for all my being an obvious Mass Effect fanboy, I never really did get into the "science of biotics" so to speak, but I figured that if one were to clone someone like Jack, it could and would present some challenges. But just to be safe, I looked up the info on biotics in the hopes that I was getting it mostly right.**

**And yes, cloning does exist in Mass Effect. Shepard specifically mentions it nearly the beginning of 2 when asking Jacob what exactly the Lazarus Project did to him/her. But obviously its not common. I wanted to show why that was.**


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Miranda's situation was not a good one to say the very least. Tired, nearly drained from constant usage of her biotics, and steadily running low on ammo, Miranda was ill-equipped to deal with a squad of Cerberus-engineered Turian clones with Mattock Assault Rifles trained on her. It didn't exactly help that she now also had several Turian prisoners to worry about.

As it stood, the "Legionnaires" as they had been dubbed by the head cloner, wasted no time in opening fire, and it would have all been over right then and there had Miranda's shields not been up. She managed to weather the barrage just long enough to force the Legionnaires back with a biotic blast. She shouted out to the Turian prisoners to take cover as she did this.

The Legionnaires were not incapacitated for long. They resumed fire quickly, but at least by then Miranda and the Turians were all behind cover. Even so theirs was a terrible position. Miranda needed to find something to even the playing field and fast.

She looked around desperately for anything in the environment to use. Finally, she noticed what looked like a fuel tank hanging above on the ceiling.

Deciding to follow Zaeed's example on Zorya, Miranda fired two shots into it. The first to rupture it, and the second to create a fiery explosion that disoriented the Legionnaires for a few precious moments that Miranda exploited with ruthless precision. Headshots via her Carnifex (and Overload to both drop their shields and stun them) downed two of the Legionnaires before Miranda was forced behind cover again.

Verash periodically popped out from behind his cover to pepper the remaining Legionnaires with fire from his pilfered Tempest SMG. With Miranda continuing to use Overload to disrupt their shields, Verash finally managed to drop one…right before another Legionnaire landed a shot that hit him square in the arm.

"Dammit!" Verash shouted as he fell back behind cover. It was then that the Legionnaires ceased fire. One of them turned to the others and motioned for them to move in on Miranda and the Turians in what the former Cerberus loyalist instantly recognized as a flanking attempt. Deciding not to give them the opportunity now that her shields had recovered, Miranda turned to Verash and motioned for him to position himself against one of the Legionnaires while Miranda did the same for the other.

Miranda waited patiently for the Legionnaires to close in before hitting it with a Warp to stagger it and a headshot to finish it. Whipping around, she watched Verash skillfully grab the Legionnaire's rifle, and jam the butt-end of his Tempest into his throat. This staggered the Legionnaire just enough for Verash to wrench the Mattock out of the Legionnaire's grip, albeit at the cost of a fierce kick to the stomach that sent him on his back. The Legionnaire planted his foot down on Verash and applied pressure, intending to crush his lungs, but Miranda had other ideas. She shot the Legionnaire in the head, damaging its helmet extensively and knocking it back, and enabling Verash to trip it, causing it to fall on its back. Verash then put his stolen Tempest to its head and fired.

It was a short-lived victory. The last Legionnaire shot Miranda in the arm, causing her to drop her Carnifex and gasp in pain and agony as blood flowed freely from her arm. She clutched her arm tightly and applied pressure to stop the bleeding as Verash cut down the last Legionnaire with the Mattock of the one he had just killed.

"Cerberu-er, ex-Cerberus lady. You okay?"

Miranda spun around and glared harshly at him. "What do _you _think?" she snapped. "It hurts but I'll live…for now" she finished bitterly. Come on, we need to keep moving or we all die.

The Turian prisoners nodded and kept moving, all of them arming themselves with the Mattocks of the dead Legionnaires as they did. Miranda, still clutching her bleeding arm as her other hand held her Carnifex limply in hand, led on, if for no other reason because only she knew the way out. Even though common sense dictated that she stay behind now it wasn't an option. She was the only one who knew the way out…

By now, alarms were blaring throughout the complex, with a voice on the intercom stating the painfully obvious about how intruders had breached the cell, freed the prisoners, and damaged the cloning chambers.

The group continued, stopping only at a Medi-Gel dispenser so Miranda could heal herself and some of the more injured Turians. Then they moved on forward, gunning down what few Cerberus forces stood in their way. Finally they returned to the entrance of the cell, and as Miranda could clearly see, they were just in time.

**Moments Ago:**

Jack's head was throbbing and her entire back was burning as if on fire upon being forcibly slammed into the wall once again by her clone's biotics. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Jack glared fiercely at her doppelganger with murder in her eyes and her biotic field consuming her in a bluish-aura yet again. Snarling in anger and fury, Jack fired out with her biotics in a massive blast that looked straight out of a video game. And the effect of it smashing into her doppelganger was a pretty spectacular one to behold to, blasting away some of the clone's armor and knocking her into the opposite wall with at least as much force as her last attack had Jack.

Refusing to let up for even a moment, Jack rocketed forward at her doppelganger via her biotics and continued to hurl Warps and other Biotic blasts at her clone. When the dust settled, Jack was hunched over, panting, and blood trailing down her nose due to over-usage of her biotics.

"**HAD ENOUGH YOU FUCKER? HUH? DO YOU WANT SOME MO—"**

Jack was cut off when a biotic blast hit her square in the chest, tearing up her shirt and sending her flying through the air and knocking her on her back. No sooner did Jack attempt to force herself up did another biotic attack send her hurtling through the air, followed by her being lifted into the air by a biotic aura and then viciously slammed into the floor, breaking her nose and briefly incapacitating her. Looking up as her vision threatened to go black at any moment, Jack could see her clone, now with her armor missing pieces and scorched from being hit with biotics so many times holding her remaining sword to Jack's head. Her doppelganger's face showed no emotion whatsoever. Not empathy nor contempt. It was just as blank as could possibly be, and it was not a look Jack had ever, ever, worn in her life.

_Cut down by my own fucking reflection and the bitch can't even make a sneer or a smile…_

**Present**

Miranda could see very clearly who Jack's assailant was, but as it stood she wasn't surprised in the least. Based on the logs she had read, she was all but certain that Jack's was the DNA being used for Project "Phantom". It also meant that what came next was more then a little cathartic.

Extending a hand, Miranda trapped Jack's doppelganger in a biotic field before she could deliver the coup de grae. Wasting no time, Miranda viciously hurled the trapped clone into one of the walls with as much force as she could, before then slamming her into the floor, the other wall, and then the floor once again. Finally, after repeating this a second time, Miranda sent the clone flying straight into the front wall…and then hurled the clone's intact sword at her with a second biotic throw, impaling the doppelganger on it and pinning her to the wall where she slumped over dead.

Miranda turned to see a bloodied and battered but still living Jack stagger to her feet, smiling weakly as she spat out some blood. The Convict's eyes fell upon her now very dead clone.

"You enjoyed that too fucking much"

Miranda shrugged and said quite simply: "Catharsis."

Jack rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I suppose. Too bad there are no clones of you for me to rough up…"

The two were interrupted when a biotic shockwave blasted through the air, knocking Miranda and most of the Turians back. Miranda leaped back to her feet to see that Richard himself was now opposing them, backed up by more Legionnaires, one whom shot one of the Turian prisoners dead while Richard sent another flying backwards with a Throw. The other Turians opened fire, their Mattock shots steadily punching through Richard's biotic barrier and the Legionnaire's energy shields before Richard conjured up his biotic whips and viciously lashed out, cutting down one Turian, then another, and then two more. The others were sent flying in opposite directions via his biotics before another strike of his whips knocked Miranda down as well. Yet another strike from his whips disarmed her.

Not to be beaten so easily, Miranda fired out another biotic blast from both of her hands. The blast dispelled Richard's biotic barrier and whips but by then there was little stopping him. He closed the now small distance between them, grabbed her arm and slammed it hard against the wall. Miranda struggled fiercely to no avail. With his other hand, Richard grabbed the back of Miranda's head and glared at her intensely, his blue eyes as frozen and soulless as two chips of ice.

"I've waited far too long for this"

And then without any other warning Richard savagely forced Miranda's lips to his own, kissing her as aggressively as possible before breaking the kiss. No sooner did he Miranda spat in his face.

"You're nothing but an animal now Richard"

"You hurt me Miranda. And now I will hurt you until you literally beg for death"

"Hey dick-hole!"

Richard turned around and received a biotic blast to his handsome face that forced him back and forced him to release his grip on Miranda who sent him hurtling backwards on his back with a biotic strike of her own before then grabbing her Carnifex.

"No one gets to filet the cheerleader but me, got it?"

Richard rose to his feet and re-conjured his biotic whips as he did so. He turned to his remaining Legionnaires: "Kill them all. No mercy"

"I don't think so"

And no sooner did the familiar voice ring through the air was the entire front entrance to the base blown to bits by rockets. Then slowly moving through the flames came the source of them: an Atlas Mech, now commandeered by Shepard. He aimed the mech's armaments at Richard and the Legionnaires.

"Now I don't know who you are but I'd strongly recommend you put those guns down and stand down. This doesn't need to get any messier then it already has."

Richard scoffed. "Of course it does. I've been waiting far too long for this day. Not even you will stop me Shepard"

And with that, Richard zipped forward in a biotic charge at Miranda. And all hell broke loose.

Shepard opened fire on the Legionnaires, cutting them all down with ease while Miranda backpedaled as Richard came at her, unceasing in her relentless torrent of SMG fire directed at him. Finally, he seemed to stagger, but he continued to come at her. Again, he lashed out with his biotic whips, disarming Miranda of her Tempest.

But before Richard could finish her off, he was shot repeatedly by shotgun blasts, each one tearing through what remained of his defenses and sending blood flying. After being hit by three such blasts, he collapsed. Miranda turned to see Jack with her Katana Shotgun raised.

Turning back to face Richard, Miranda could see that he was done for. He was bleeding everywhere and blood was seeping out of his mouth. He smiled weakly as he looked at her.

"Always remember Miranda…I'm a monster you made…you're the real villa—"

A single shot from Miranda's Carnifex to Richard's head silenced him for good. Tears flowed down her face but she brushed them away. It was over. Richard was a ghost who would now remain just that.

"I'm sorry…." Miranda whispered.

She turned to Shepard as he finally exited his Atlas Mech.

"We're done here" Miranda said simply. "Let's get these Turians out of this hell-hole"

**I've noticed that Miri gets a couple different interpretations from writers. Some portray her as a female Illusive Man or Kai Leng (scary image there) as in, completely indoctrinated into Cerberus with an unflinching "ends justify the means" philosophy and just as ruthless as anyone else in Cerberus. Basically the very thing Jack's always said she is. One writer (who shall remain anonymous) even had her sympathize with Project Overlord!**

**Others opt for a more sympathetic portrayal, showing someone who is not so much evil as deluded and for all her being cold, ruthless, and down right nasty towards others at times is a good person at heart who upon seeing how evil her organization is becomes disillusioned with it.**

**Needless to say, I prefer the latter interpretation, and while one could argue that the former "makes more sense" due to Miri having been with Cerberus for so long (19 years assuming she joined shortly after her father "created" Oriana), I don't agree, as the game itself seems to show otherwise. What I got out of the way she was in the game was someone who **_**can **_**be ruthless but isn't heartless. After all, does she not oppose her father's Husk facility? She also says that what was done to Jack was without a doubt a mistake. **_**And **_**she opposes the decision to keep the Collector Base intact just as much as anyone else. That does not sound like someone who is willing to do whatever it takes no matter what. Maybe she was like that for a time, but I think that Shepard helps change her for the better (assuming we're talking Paragon or Paragade here) That, and (for me anyway) the former is just impossible to sympathize with whereas the latter is.**

**I hope I didn't make Jack an Miri too chummy too quickly for people's tastes. It **_**is **_**supposed to be their relationship improving, but let me know if I maybe rushed it.**


	11. Epilogue

**Author's Note: I apologize for the long delay before my last update. I was away at a wonderful week-long summer camp. But I'm back now and ready to make up for lost time. So I hope you all enjoy my epilogue to "Best of Enemies"!**

It had been a completely silent trip back to the Normandy and then for Miranda and Jack straight to the med-bay.

Both women had suffered their share of injuries, Jack especially, and Miranda had expended so much biotic energy that she was confined to the med-bay for a few days. And unfortunately, Jack was also required to stay.

Or rather, it would have been unfortunate, if it had been but a short while ago and the two still hated one another's guts. But now the two women understood one another and could sympathize both with the pain of their past lives and also how they were not as different as either would have liked to believe.

In addition to her now improved relationship with Jack, Miranda's mind also went to Richard. The innocent young man who she had helped, albeit mostly against her will, turned into the heartless and vengeful man she had had to kill on Invictus. And the sad fact was is that Richard was right. As much as Miranda hated herself for it, no matter how much she tried to forget it and move on, Richard was a monster of her own making.

She thought back to how things used to be, before her eyes were opened to what Cerberus was versus what she thought it was…

Life had been just a bit simpler for Miranda in those days: back then it seemed like Cerberus actually still had good intentions, even if their methods could be considered ethically sketchy at times. While her time with them had seen her do her share of ruthless things, she had never led a cell even remotely like the ones on Akuze, Pragia, or Aite, and had never seen such atrocities being committed during her time with Cerberus beforehand. Now she had to wonder if atrocities like that hadn't always been going on without her notice. There was, as Shepard himself had pointed out, a reason why the Illusive Man never let any of his cells know what the others were doing. They were, all of them, completely in the dark, and as much as Miranda hated to admit it, she was no different from the legions of other Cerberus operatives in that regard. Completely oblivious to what the others were doing, and only knowing as much as the Illusive Man wanted her to. The parts that made Cerberus look like an acceptable place to put her loyalty.

Miranda, while not having anywhere close to Jacob's level of rigid idealism, had standards and a conscience, much as she tried to hide it, and as such was one of those operatives who the Illusive Man had to be careful with. Never show her anything that could risk driving her away. So he sent her on the "cleaner" jobs: the humanitarian missions to colonies hit by slavers and pirates, hunting down said slavers and pirates along with other scum that the Alliance and the Council didn't have time for...it was exactly how Miranda had lured Jacob in and while Miranda was again, not so blissfully simple as him and tended to see the world in less black and white terms, she too had been seduced by Cerberus' image as an organization of mostly benevolent intentions that did the necessary things that the Alliance and Council could or would not do. A group that genuinely believed in human advancement and wanted humanity to succeed, not just a xenophobic terrorist organization.

But with everything she had seen and learned in recent weeks, things had ceased to be so simple and now it seemed that nothing made sense anymore. The Cerberus she thought she knew simply did not exist, at least not anymore. The Illusive Man she thought she knew had standards, and never crossed the line unless he had a damn good reason. And Miranda had made sure that she was the same. She would shoot someone right between the eyes without blinking one of her own, or use and discard people without losing a wink of sleep, but only if she thought that her victims deserved it or if her actions served a greater good. But a platoon of marines senselessly slaughtered, children placed in what amounted to a death camp, and an innocent autistic hooked up to machinery like a puppet out of hell were all pretty hard to justify.

And as she continued her silent ruminations, she found that some of the things she had done were also hard to justify in hindsight. She wondered for a moment just how "harmless" some of the things she had done for Cerberus really were. How many secrets and valuable intel had she given them that would later be used to commit more heinous acts? How many people had she shot dead who didn't truly deserve such a fate? Could she be called a mass-murderer?

Miranda shook her head. She couldn't afford to think like that. _**Wouldn't**_ think like that. If she spent too much time wallowing in self-pity and ruminating over the morality of all of her past actions with Cerberus it would destroy her. Consume her. Tear her apart from the inside out. She had to be strong. Had to maintain that image of unbreakable determination and icy professionalism that had so defined her during her time with Cerberus. She could afford to be her true self with Shepard and Oriana, and to a much lesser extent Jacob, but nobody else. Everyone else still got at least a little bit of the old Ice Queen she had once been.

She remembered Shepard assuring her that he still loved her. Still wanted her. Even after telling him everything she had done, every secret mission and buried part of the past, including Richard, he still loved her and wanted her in his life. In the case of Richard she had expected him to question the legitimacy of their relationship after she told Shepard about him, but instead he was unconcerned, pointing out how Miranda had never wanted to lead Richard along, and that what had happened between them had been painful. Between that and the fact that she was no longer with Cerberus, there would be no good reason for her to be with Shepard unless it was genuine.

_She had been struck by how easily he had accepted this information. For a moment she almost teared up before forcing them back and whispering: "You're too forgiving"_

"_I wouldn't say that"_

"_Well you are!" she said, pain in her voice. "After what I've told you, how could you still…want me?"_

"_Because you're not the scientists who put children in a death camp, or the ones who massacred Alliance marines"_

_"I did other things…"_

"_Nothing that was anywhere near as bad and nothing I can't forgive"_

"_That's exactly what I mean! You forgive too easi-"_

"_Miranda I don't care who you were when you were young and working for people you knew nothing about" Shepard had said. "I care about who you are __**now.**__ And the woman I see in front of me is a good person at heart..." then he had made a reassuring smile as he added: "...you just sometimes try so damn hard to convince us all otherwise"_

Miranda couldn't help but smile when she remembered that. Shepard. Her commander, her lover, and even from a certain point of view her savior. Both in a literal sense, when he saved her from plummeting into the depths with the Human-Reaper, but also how he had gotten her to resign from Cerberus. There were times, especially when she remembered his willingness to forgive her, that she felt like she didn't deserve him, but she always brushed those thoughts aside. They were meant for one another. She the woman genetically engineered for perfection and he the man the galaxy made into a G-d. And together they helped remind one another of just how human they both were. They could afford to be that way with each-other when they couldn't with anybody else. It felt...good, she realized. Hell, she had even been smiling while working ever since she and Shepard had grown closer. That one, little thing in itself told a great deal...

"So…"

Jack's voice shook Miranda out of her thoughts. Miranda turned to face her.

"Yes?"

"Mind if I ask a question?"

Miranda shrugged. "Depends on the question"

"Who the fuck was that Richard guy anyway?"

Miranda hesitated to answer, not wanting to linger on his memory any more then she had to. And yet in spite of that, something motivated her to tell Jack anyway: "He…he was a fellow Cerberus operative whom I met and recruited when I was younger. We went on several missions together and grew…close. Closer than I would have preferred."

Jack made a wicked smirk. "Tried to get laid with you did he?"

"Not quite how I would word it but yes, more or less. Then he came to realize that I simply did not feel that way about him. He was…hurt. But that wasn't the worst of it."

"Oh, what was?"

Miranda bit her lip. She and Jack were no longer at each-other's throats, but even so, this was a part of her past that Miranda wanted to share with as few people as possible and was also currently doing her best to forget it.

"I…I can't say."

"Why not? Afraid I'll spill?"

"Among other reasons yes…no offense"

Jack shrugged. "None taken I guess. Just seems to me like you could use someone to talk to. Aside from Shepard anyway."

Miranda found herself a little taken aback by what Jack had said. It was incredibly considerate and compassionate by her standards, and had it been just a short while ago, Miranda wouldn't have believed for one second that the woman saying it was the real Jack. And as it stood now she was still having a hard time believing it.

"That's…considerate of you Jack" Miranda said lamely. "But I think I'm fine thanks…"

Jack shrugged again. "Suit yourself"

There was silence between the two before Miranda decided that it was her turn to be considerate and compassionate to Jack. Remembering how the Shadow Broker had kept files on every member of Shepard's squad, Miranda decided to extend something of an olive branch.

"Jack…"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember when Shepard, Legion and I took down the Shadow Broker?"

"Yeah, it was about a week ago. What of it?"

"Well the Shadow Broker kept files on all of us. I thought I'd give you access to yours"

Jack scoffed. "I don't need to look at all the times I've been banned from the extranet again, thanks"

"What if I told you it had information on where you came from…on your mother?"

That clearly got Jack's attention. "What are you talking about?"

"The Teltin scientists kept records of the kidnappings they performed on biotic children. That includes the transcript of them taking you from your mother…"

At the mention of this Jack's expression became the one of pure hatred and fury that was more familiar to Miranda. But surprisingly (and thankfully) she didn't lash out. At least not at Miranda.

"Those _**bastards**_…"

"Indeed" Miranda said in simple agreement. "but, in any event, them making those transcripts, which the Shadow Broker either stole or made copies of for his own possession, includes your own, and your mother is in it. I know its not much as far as links to your family are concerned, but…"

"Show me. Just show me" Jack said darkly. Miranda found herself wondering if offering Jack this was really such a good idea.

"I will" Miranda said. "I promise, the second we're out of here I'll go straight to my office and get them. Shepard forwarded files on the whole crew to my terminal as well as his own. Out of respect for the crew, I haven't read most of them…"

"Except mine apparently" Jack said acidly.

"I wouldn't have been able to make this offer otherwise" Miranda pointed out.

"Point taken" Jack conceded bitterly. "Alright cheerleader, it's a deal. We get out of here, I get…the "transcript" with my mom. Is there anything else?"

"A few poems you wrote, quite good I might add" Miranda said, mostly in the hopes of smoothing things over, but also because she did genuinely believe that Jack's work was good, even if it was also extremely hard to believe that Jack wrote in a manner that was the complete and total opposite of how she talked and acted. But in the end those were hidden depths for you.

"…also some criminal records and the like, nothing I think you'd care to look over again"

Jack shook her head. "Fuck no. So nothing else on my mother, or—"

"I'm sorry Jack, but no. That transcript with her in it is all that there is"

Jack fell silent for a moment, saying nothing. But finally, she let out a deep sigh and said: "Alright then. The transcript will do. But why the hell are you doing this anyway?"

Miranda shrugged. "My way of being generous. Of apologizing, I suppose, for my earlier coldness. I was hoping that we could continue to smooth things over between us"

"Eh, I'm not interested in jumping into that low-cut catsuit of yours"

"Good, I wasn't offering. Just more friendly would be nice"

Jack seemed to consider it for a moment. Finally, she said: "You give me that Shadow Broker file on me and I just might consider it"

Once again Miranda decided to take her small victories where she could. She nodded. "Alright then. It's a deal"

-X-

The Illusive Man sat lounging in his chair, cigarette in hand as always, staring off into the slowly dying star that his headquarters loomed over. Slowly inhaling and exhaling the smoke, his ears picked up the sound of his current top operative returning from his latest assignment.

"Well?"

"The Cadmus Cell has been destroyed" Kai Leng said matter-of-factly. "Most if not all of the personnel are dead, including operative Richard, the base is worse for wear, and all of the Legionnaires were destroyed. Even worse, all of the Turian prisoners escaped, so we can't get any new DNA material."

The Illusive Man paused for a moment, before shaking his head. "Disappointing. All very disappointing. I expected much better of operative Richard. He always was one of my best. Always did show such potential"

"Well he's dead now. And Lawson's jumped ship. I suppose that only leaves me"

"Yes, I suppose it does" the Illusive Man replied simply. He let out another breath of smoke. "What about Project Phantom?"

"That's the silver lining. The one clone was killed, but I managed to recover the perfected DNA samples"

Kai Leng held up the vials of DNA samples in his talon-fingered hand, the brightness of the star making the liquid within the same color as it.

"Doctor Drin managed to get the proper DNA structure for the clones. Clones made from this will not decompose, but will have severely decreased biotic potential, especially if mass-produced. So in the end it's a trade-off"

The Illusive Man said nothing for a moment, but then finally said: "Then I suppose we will have to go with quantity over quality. So be it. Find any other scientists who are capable cloners, in Cerberus or not, and get them to begin working on the new "Project Phantom" right away. I'll be sure to make arrangements for the necessary arms and armor"

"I'd like for the clones to also be equipped with swords not unlike my own sir. The original relied more on agility then anything else. I believe that a fighting style like my own will serve to complement this well"

The Illusive Man paused again for a moment before saying simply: "Suit yourself operative Leng. But I expect my army of Cerberus Phantoms"

"Yes sir"

**Author's Note: And that brings my Best of Enemies fan-fic to a conclusion. I hope you all enjoyed my attempt to make Jack and Miranda not want to tear one another to pieces. I personally had fun writing it although it is definitely a hell of a lot more bloody and profane then my usual work, but I suppose given the characters involved that was inevitable.**

**But anyway, that's the end of this particular fan-fic. And with it I think I'm going to let Mass Effect sit for a while and work on some fics for other fandoms. I hope you all enjoyed!**


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